Reproductive and meat characteristics and distribution of the Japanese Wagyu breed around the world, in Europe and Bulgaria - Overview

Tatyana Ivanova; Lora Mondeshka; Tsvetan Markov

Tatyana Ivanova

, Lora Mondeshka

, Tsvetan Markov

Abstract: The name of the Wagyu breed comes from Japanese - "Wa"-Japanese and "gyu"-beef. In the past, animals of this breed were used for draft. Japanese Wagyu consists of 4 cattle breeds - Japanese Black, Japanese Brown, Japanese Shorthorn and Japanese Large. Japanese black cattle are the predominant breed. It produces meat with the highest degree of marbling. After Japan, the most animals of this breed are bred in Australia. The ration of Japanese Black cattle is rich in concentrate and rice straw. Fattening begins at 11 months of age and ends at 30 months of age. During this period, the accumulation of the most intramuscular fat happens, which is the main goal of Japanese breeders. Reproductive and genetic traits of Japanese Black cattle are important breeding objectives as they directly affect meat productivity and should be used in selection schemes. Wagyu meat has the highest marbling intensity compared to other meat breeds. The high content of intramuscular fat improves the tenderness, juiciness and overall taste of the meat. The percentage of intramuscular fat of Japanese black cattle averages greater than 30%. The average body and carcass weights of the Japanese black cattle at slaughter were 756 kg and 476 kg at 29.2 months of age respectively. Average daily gain to slaughter weight is 0.770kg. The price of meat from this breed is the highest compared to meat from other beef breeds /the average price of calves is about 6 226 USD and the average price of carcasses is about 12 511 USD.

Keywords: marbling; meat; reproductive traits; Wagyu breed

Citation: Ivanova, T., Mondeshka, L. & Markov, Ts. (2026). Reproductive and meat characteristics and distribution of the Japanese Wagyu breed around the world, in Europe and Bulgaria – Overview. Bulg. J. Agric. Sci., 32(3), 693–701

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Date published: 2026-06-25

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