Day in the Life of a Japanese Wagyu Beef Farmer

this is a day in the life of a japanese wagyu beef farmer [Music] [Alarm] This is Ryuju. 22 years old living in Miyazaki, Japan, and he's just waking up for work. Oh, and that's his girlfriend Cena, apparently the early riser of the two. [Music] They live together in this 2LDK Apartment. The couple also work together so their morning routine is a bit staggered [Music] After getting ready, Ryuji and his girlfriend enjoy a morning coffee together while discussing any important work they have for the day ahead and before leaving work they make sure to attend to their cats. Interstingly, only 10 of Japans population are cat owners, second to dog owners at 13 percent [Music] oh they're driving to work in a K-Truck, also known as Katoda which means a lightweight truck generally with a max load of 350 kilograms or 770 pounds super popular among farmers good morning i'm back with another day in the life this time i'm outside of tokyo so i'm super excited for this one i'm just in front of a 7-eleven because Ryuji should be coming here in the morning [Music] oh and there he is good morning did you sleep well last night apparently today is a super busy day for cattle at an auction on top of his regular farm duties so Ryuji works as a Wagyunoka. In English - Wagyu Beef Farmer as a kid raised on the farm he always knew he wanted to raise wagyu beef cattle so he attended a specialized agricultural high school and afterwards Miyazaki Agricultural Junior College earning a degree in Cattle Stock breeding ultimately making his way back to the family farm [Music] this is View Corporation - Ryuji's workplace. A 13 353 square meter farm primed for raising local Myazaki Beef - a premium japanese wagyu beef brand the farm consists of three main barns housing 700 wagyu cattle and a total of six hard-working farmers who take great care of the cattle and facilities when Ryuji arrives, the first thing he does is to check on the cattle as it's critical for him to ensure that they're all in a good and healthy condition if you recognize any signs of illness such as fever or stomach aches he's able to quickly react and provide his cattle with a proper treatment [Music] oh that's Ryugi's dad well and his boss his father originally started off in the cattle transportation business and in his thirties decided to try his hand in raising six cattle over time and hard work he's been able to go to 700 cattle interestingly he never intended for his son to take over the farm but Ryuji took so much interest in the family business that he decided to hand it over to a son in the future what are you gonna do now [Applause] today is a big day for him because he's selling three of his cows at the city in In English, an auction. So, Ryuji raises Miyazaki Gyu, Gyu meaning beef from japanese blackhead cattle a brand of wagyu. Wagyu is a premium grade beef in japan and refers specifically to four breeds of cattle with the strictest guidelines and requirements ultimately producing a high-end quality japanese beef known worldwide for its beautiful marbling and deep umami flavor. Ryuji's wagyu brand called Miyazaki specifically produces the highest grade of wagyu possible a4 and a5 quality which is why Miyazaki Gyu is one of the leading wagyu miyazaki you is one of the leading wagyu brands in japan [Music] and here's the auction site oh wow it sprays all arriving vehicles for sanitation to protect the cattle from infection [Music] wow it seems like he knows everyone here so there are auctions every 10 days and yuji goes almost every time to either sell or buy cattle what is that [Music] when selling cattle at the auction sellers need to first get an entry number for each cattle and then verify its weight precisely on site as is a major component on how it's priced wow the cow seems really strong he says that it takes quite a bit of practice to handle such a big animal as fully grown cattle away from 750 to 900 kilograms about 1650 to 2 000 pounds apparently the key to encouraging cattle to walk is varying the direction of the pole instead of strongly pulling in one direction [Music] oh there's yuji's dad he's the director of the kitamuro katagun livestock dealer trading cooperative association so how big was your cattle ichiban [Music] is filling out the paperwork right now and just a little bit after the auction is going to start i'm kind of excited to see how much the cow is going to go for so before the auction starts the order is decided by lottery i guess today ryuji gets to draw the number luigi did Yuji, did you draw a good number? [Music] now yuji goes to check out the other cattle to see if any peak is interested in buying he says it's important to look at its horn for potential fattening equally as important to review its breed and pedigree as it helps determine the quality of meat such as marbling, color and firmness during these auctions he also takes time to talk with many different farmers he says he's still young in the industry and so he's eager to learn from experienced breeders and older generations so that he can use the knowledge gained and raise the best cattle possible [Music] that cow looks different what's that [Music] i know [Music] Oh, I guess the auction has started. so let me explain how it works when the cattle are brought to the front their weight and pedigree documents are displayed bidders are assigned a table and use this button under the table to bid one click ups a bid by 1 000 yen about 10 and basically the last one to press the button wins okay that's the first cow ryuji is sellimg How long have you been with the company? [Music] nice it's sold every buyer is assigned to stall so he takes the cow to the stall number printed on the ticket that he received right after it was sold then he greets the buyer to say thank you and briefly shares with them additional information about his cattle these little gestures are critical to help build a good relationship with other farmers so how's the price How long have you been with the company? Why did you decide to work in the farm? he's actually ruji's best friend ryugi met him at this auction five years ago coincidentally they were in the same grade having common friends and so naturally they quickly became best friends they started to work together after yugi graduated from college and now they're both hustling together to become the best cattle farmers possible oh that's his last cow and it sold what do you think about the bid price and there you go he sold all of his cattle today [Music] now he has a visit from the veterinarian today yugi is receiving the cattle's blood test results and discussing with the veterinarians if they need to provide any of the cattle with medical treatment in general the cattle have blood tests twice a year to analyze their dietary intake of vitamins minerals and proteins which ultimately helps ruji manage and adjust the amount of food and additives he feeds to the cattle so it looks like fuji is going to be in this meeting for just a little bit while he's doing that let's go explore this place they have so much cattle here but i'm wondering if they have any other animals let's go try to find out wow they have 10 wild cats 5 dogs 3 goats and even a pig so one of the things that kind of surprised me about this place is that i was expecting it to smell really bad but in fact it doesn't smell that bad at all it just smells kind of like dirt in here oh there's senna let's see what she's doing what's that so senna is responsible for taking care of the calves at the farm not only feeding but also keeping track of their health condition like this one who's only two months old and recently had surgery so it's her job to keep an eye on these recovering calves so just in front of me right here it looks like it's the president's room let's go see what's inside oh there's someone in there excuse me you have a meeting with the president you have a meeting with the president He also says Miyazaki can be bought What kind of website? What kind of website? He also says Miyazaki Beef from the farm can be bought directly from their new website delivery starting in japan while also currently preparing to expand delivery to other countries allowing customers to taste the best of the best japanese wagyu beef brands from their own home i'll leave a link in the description so you can check it out oh that's a picture of yuji's grandfather from 1935 he used to drive a horse carriage that carried wood from the mountain [Music] since a few of the cattle were exhibiting signs of heat stress they're using a thermal imaging camera to check the temperature of the barn as well as the surface of the cows it seems like they've decided to install additional fans throughout to help circulate the air better now they're doing any follow-up checks on any of the sick cattle oh damn this calf is getting an iv bag treatment wow that's dope can i see inside your trunk wow he has all the medicines and tools for any occasion and apparently he doesn't just treat sick cattle but also helps deliver calves how many farms do you visit a day [Music] Yey lunch time. What are you eating today? his job is pretty physical so he really needs to fuel up during lunch you're not eating After lunch, cigarette break break he has a little time before his lunch break is over so he makes use of it to update all of his records from today's cow auction sale all cattle information such as pedigree, certificate information such as pedigree certifications medical history and sales are all digitally recorded so it must be diligent to always keep the records up to date how often do you have to do office work [Music] know [Music] What are you doing now? [Music] [Music] he feeds his cattle twice a day morning and afternoon i guess today the other staff took care of the morning feed since he was at the auction he uses two kinds of feed he makes a nutritional mix he makes adjustments on the amount size of grain and ratio of feed depending on the stage of the cattle this bag is 200 kilograms of feed mix consisting of oats hay timothy grass and unkai sochi slops and of course that sochu is from miyazaki first he uses this lip with an attachment called the bail crusher interestingly in japan you're required to get a specialized driver's license in order to operate heavy farm equipment by using this lift system it only takes 10 to 15 minutes to feed a barn of a hundred cattle oh there's white blocks lying around everywhere what's this [Music] summers in japan get extremely hot and humid which makes it easy for cattle to get heatstroke so these big blocks which get consumed in less than a month help prevent that from happening and it also helps prevent urinary calculi so i guess that's good by the way do you have any days off? now he feeds the cattle with a nutritional mix by hand so what's the biggest difference between wagyu and foreign beef? Feed management is absolutely crucial when it comes to marbling of the meat as much as breeding and pedigree that's why in order to raise a premium miyazaki beef a farmer must need to be knowledgeable in both livestock and nutrition now he changes the soil bed for the cattle changing it every month to maintain a clean environment as well as helping to minimize the cattle's stress one of the significant differences of wagyu farms is that they don't graze their cattle but instead have smaller pen to control the amount of exercise and feeding to create a better marble or in japanese sashi as well as consistency and meat quality so after removing the compost bedding he lays out fresh sawdust the older compost is not thrown away though rather it's recycled by using their on-site drill machine which helps speed up the fermentation process it's later mixed with the sawdust to create a new bedding to help save on costs as sawdust prices have increased these days and now the cattle have a clean floppy bedding so what's so special about miyazaki beef miyazaki is known to be blessed with amazing bull studs with great pedigree so much so that many other prefecture brand bee farmers buy them to grow their cattle are you done [Music] oh i guess senna is done with her work for today oh nice it looks like he went home first to shower and change and now it's dinner time [Music] is she your friend i love it a family that eats together tonight yuji's having dinner at his family's restaurant which of course serves premium miyazaki beef directly from his farm that looks amazing miyazaki beef is known for its rich aroma melting soft texture and of course that perfect marble it must be nice to be able to have premium wagyu whenever you want which part of the beef is this [Music] [Applause] checking on the cattle at the end of the night is also part of his everyday routine as a farmer it's important for him to ensure that his cattle are well fed and comfortable day and night so if yuji and his girlfriend are doing their final check right now they're gonna stay here for a little bit longer until they're finished after that they'll go home chill and probably go to sleep around 12 at midnight tonight so that's pretty much a day in the life of a japanese wagyu beef farmer let me know what you thought in the comments if you guys like this video like always help me out and hit that like button if you guys want to help the channel then definitely check out the japan merch if you guys want to see what i'm doing on the daily check out my instagram account and if you guys want to see any more videos like this daily life videos or anything related to japan hit that subscribe button and the bell button and i'll catch you guys in the next one

Channel: Paolo fromTOKYO

Views: 4,840,799

Keywords: Paolo, Japan, wagyu beef, japanese beef, wagyu farm, kuroge wagyu, japanese wagyu, japanese food, living in japan, life in japan, wagyu beef cows, wagyu beef farm, wagyu beef japan, wagyu, wagyu beef farmer, japanese wagyu farmer, a day in the life, japanese cattle farm, japanese cattle, japanese cows, japanese cattle farmer, miyazaki, miyazaki beef, japanese farmer, japanese wagyu beef, japanese wagyu farm, japanese wagyu cow, wagyu a5, what is wagyu beef, japan wagyu

Id: Bjm-HoXy7oQ

Length: 17min 1sec (1021 seconds)

Published: Fri Aug 27 2021