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
He also says Miyazaki can be bought
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]
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
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