Technical

The World Wagyu Council Technical Committee (WWCTC) https://worldwagyucouncil.com/about/governance/ seeks to increase the international sharing of technical information, movement and registration of animals and their genetics between countries; and the establishment of a global Wagyu genetic/genomic analysis for the accurate comparison of animal performance. The WWCTC, and through it the World Wagyu Council, recommends that its member Associations:

1. Standardise registration and pedigree recording to facilitate movement of animal genetics between countries, including:

- DNA parent verification be required as a prerequisite for at least Fullblood animal registration, including purebred where each generation is parent verified except for an F1 cow that is sire verified.
- Complying WWC member herdbooks to be recognised by other WWC members and Fullblood registrations from those members to be automatically accepted, providing they meet the receiving association’s other rules.

2. Simplify an animal’s registration from another country’s Wagyu Association to reduce the receiving Association’s staff workload and member cost of service by:

- Encouraging data service providers to provide a standardised pedigree extract of 4 generations to be imported into the receiving database
- Encouraging WWCTC members to use the extracted data for registration of overseas animal registrations
- Where such extract is used for overseas animal registration, WWCTC members to only charge for a single registration at their standard pricing, without a charge for background pedigree loading
- The originating country’s registration identifier and original breeder of the animal to be recorded on the importing database.

3. Share registration, data and genotype information using a standard sharing agreement (Mutual Data Sharing Non-Disclosure Agreement).

Also, the WWCTC members unanimously agree that:

A Global Wagyu Genetic/Genomic Evaluation is a useful concept; and

It will be useful to review the Wagyu performance traits recorded by each member country association, compare them for commonality, and produce a recommendation on standard traits that should be used across countries.

To this end, a Global Wagyu Data Review Expression of Interest has been circulated to a number of internationally recognised genetic/genomic analysis service providers to undertake a data review of member data sources to assist in considering development of a Global Wagyu Genetic/Genomic Evaluation.

Other technical matters under consideration include:

Cloning
Structural assessment of donor females for international sale; and
Carcass camera technologies.