ABOUT US

The Academy Cattle Company was established in 1980 by Barbara Roberts-Thomson, who very successfully bred Herefords and Poll Herefords for 25 years.  Curiosity arose when she first heard of Wagyu cattle having the best meat quality as defined by more tender, juicy and better tasting meat containing Omega 3 fat and omega 6 fatty acids which are beneficial to our health.

The first Wagyu cow was purchased in 1998 and a gradual changeover was made as the performance of these truly efficient and problem-free cattle was realised. A herd of top quality black Wagyus was built up over 12 years and in 2010 the stud was sold to Hughes Pastoral a large scale commercial Wagyu operation in Northern Australia. They acquired a property near Armidale for the purpose of breeding bulls for their own needs and Barbara was employed to do their genetic work.

In 2016 Barbara purchased back a small number of cows who were over 10 years of age and started again in a very small way. 

For the next 6 years Barbara continued to build on these original genetics but the years were slipping by, and she was nearly 75 years of age so she decided to sell the small property Wongalea which she purchased 30 years prior. Most of her black herd was sold to Justin and Kate Boshammer JK Cattle Co. Condamine who she knows will do a great job breeding both Fullbloods and Polls.  Again, she kept just the aged cows which she is building up for her young neighbour Tyler Grant who is running the cattle on the historic property Palmerston next door.

Academy started breeding Red Wagyu / Akaushi cattle in 2003. Due to having only 500 acres, she has built up small numbers of Reds and sold them numerous times but retaining embryos.  Firstly, to Professor Richard Dawkins from Western Australia who has been crossing them with Simmental. The next group went to Richard Bootle of Bogan Farms, Nyngan who has used them over Herefords to create the Bogan Reds. Barbara started polling the Reds with Senepol cattle and sold that group to Richard Makim, Armidale who continued until recently when the herd was sold to Gary Jones from Gippsland in Victoria.  

In recent times to Julie-Anne Brown from Valerosa Past Co. Alpha, Qld has purchased some of the best sires and females to build her Code Red herd to cross with Brangus and Brahman cattle. She is doing an excellent job with her research following large numbers of cattle through to slaughter and assessing their marbling and carcass weights.  The final small herd has gone to the Morgan Brothers from The Grove at Condamine who will be crossing them with Shorthorns, again interested in their marbling and carcass traits.  These breeders are all doing interesting research with the Akaushi and are expanding their herds.

Following a recent trip to the World Wagyu Conference 2023 in Texas, USA, Barbara was delighted to learn that the Red Wagyu/Akaushi cattle are the fastest growing breed in North America with over 800 new members in the past two years. It will be very interesting to watch where they go in Australia, but she is confident that they are just on the point of a rapid expansion. Being red, the cattle should handle the heat better than their black cousins, they have sounder conformation, better fertility and milk and bigger carcasses. One of their strongest traits is their ability to finish on grass while retaining their excellent marbling which is of interest to breeders in the south of our country.

To supplement her income on a very small property Barbara has marketed semen firstly in Poll Herefords followed by Herefords, black Wagyu and then Red Wagyu/ Akaushi.  She has made very good genetics available at reasonable prices and enjoyed the interactions with the breeders in many countries. It is a pleasure to see that ACCFE0146 – The Wright Master Chef, the first Akaushi calf that she bred is now one of the most popular sires in North America.

Barbara is slowly, and in a way reluctantly winding down after a most enjoyable life in the cattle business. She plans to hand over her few remaining black Wagyu cattle to Tyler and just remain in the semen business for the interest and to keep mixing with the great group of Wagyu breeders worldwide.