US cattle leader praises Australian cattle industry’s dedication to quality after attending Wagyu Edge 2025

Australia and the US have a lot to learn from each other when it comes to breeding the best-quality Wagyu, according to a Colorado cattle industry leader who visited Perth recently. Jenny Tweedy, the vice-president of cattle operations at Mishima Reserve Wagyu, was among dozens of speakers and guests who travelled from the US to Perth for the Australian Wagyu industry’s biggest conference. Speaking after her presentation at WagyuEdge ‘25, which focused on American production systems, Ms Tweedy said she had found it fascinating to learn more about the key differences and similarities between how US and Australian farmers produced Wagyu. Ms Tweedy is based in the northern Colorado city Fort Collins, and has worked at Mishima Reserve for more than a decade. She has spent the past 3½ years as its vice-president of cattle operations. The business’ herds consist of Japanese-heritage, full-blood Kuroge Washu bulls, crossed with American cows born in the US, with a long-fed program spanning 25-28 months. “Both countries have a lot to learn from each other. As far as efficiency goes it has been amazing to look at what producers are doing here and compare that to the US,” Ms Tweedy said. “There are some key differences but there is a lot of common thread, too.” Ms Tweedy said the biggest difference she encountered on her trip Down Under was in cattle feeding programs. “Australian farmers bring their cattle in a bit later and they are on feed for 350-500 days,” she said. “In the US we are harvesting our animals quite a bit earlier, so that was a big difference.” Ms Tweedy said it was clear how much Australian farmers focused the “attention to detail” on genetics and feeding programs. “I really appreciate that in Australia, everyone really celebrates that quality,” she said. “It has been interesting to look at the vertically integrated supply chains here and look at the award system around quality grade.” It was the trip of a lifetime for Ms Tweedy, who had never visited Australia before but had a long-standing interest in Wagyu cattle production here.