About Sumo Wagyu

Established in 1991, Australian owned company, Sumo Wagyu entered the Livestock industry with the goal of producing the most genetically elite Wagyu herd outside Japan.

In the early 1990’s, Wagyu’s presence in Australia was in its infancy and founder Simon Coates recognized an exciting opportunity for growth. Wagyu embryos were imported from Canada to establish a purebred Wagyu herd.

Angus heifers were purchased and mated to Wagyu bulls, creating a commercial F1 herd. Some of these were feedlotted in Australia to validate the quality of the carcases.

Following this, Sumo Wagyu sent the first Australian shipment of F1 steers to Japan for feedlotting. This historic occasion pioneered the emergence of Australian F1 Wagyu genetics onto the world stage- showing potential Wagyu breeders that a premium market existed for their cattle outside Australia.

The initial 100 F1 Wagyu/Angus steers were then accompanied by 22,000 Angus feeder steers to Japan. Over the next 18 months Sumo Wagyu acted alone, assisting other Australian producers to enter this emerging market. The genetic power of this breed continues to create new benchmarks in the beef industry, with 10,000 Wagyu steers and heifers shipped annually to Japan.

In 1997 Sumo Wagyu imported 50 fullblood heifers and 6 fullblood bulls into Australia from Japanese Master Breeder Shogo Takeda. Soon after, the remainder of Takeda’s Australian herd was purchased by Sumo Wagyu. With its acquisition, Sumo Wagyu owned 90% of all fullblood Wagyu females in Australia.

Sumo Wagyu then developed three large scale embryo transfer centres in Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland, quickly proliferating fullblood Wagyu genetics. The stock from these centres then populated approximately 70% of the emerging Wagyu herds around Australia.

To this day, Sumo continues to be a leading supplier of 100% fullblood genetics to Australian Wagyu herds. In 2016, 150 elite fullblood Wagyu bulls were offered for sale.

Sumo’s ability to produce elite Wagyu breeders is evidenced by Japanese companies sourcing hundreds of fullblood Wagyu breeders from Sumo Wagyu’s herd. Their requirements are for large framed females that milk well, whilst exhibiting outstanding marbling characteristics.