Day in the Life of a Japanese Wagyu Beef Farmer

this is a day in the life of a japanese

wagyu beef farmer

[Music]

[Music]

this is ryuji 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 two ldk

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 interestingly

only 10 of japan's 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

the yuji 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

him since he's selling some of his

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 miyazaki 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 yugi'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 yuji 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

english an auction

so yuji raises miyazaki q u meaning b

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 yuji's

wagyu brand called miyazaki specifically

produces the highest grade of wagyu

possible a4 and a5 quality which is why

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

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]

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

selling

[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

he's actually ruji's best friend luigi

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 fuji 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 a 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 santa let's see what she's

doing

what's that i don't

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

what

[Music]

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 hair 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

today

[Music]

his job is pretty physical so he really

needs to fuel up during lunch you're not

eating

some of the shop after lunch a cigarette

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 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]

[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 yes

now he feeds the cattle with a

nutritional mix by hand so what's the

biggest difference between wagyu and

management is foreign

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

emoji

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 santa 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 wagyubi 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