Genetics

The cow, Kanetani FB2896, was imported to the U.S. in 1994. Kanetani was sired by Tanishege, a noted Japanese bull. In 1996, she gave birth to a Fukutsuro 068 daughter called Hisako. In 1999, Hisako’s daughter by Michifuku was born and named Misako.

In 2004, Hisako and Misako went to Baycroft Wagyu in De Pere, WI. There, they developed three more generations of this Tajima-based family. Misako had five daughters there and many more around the world via embryo transfer. Today, we continue to expand this family for our own herd and offer embryos from Misako daughters and semen from two Misako sons.

A herd reduction sale in 2010 led to more than 20 full-blood Wagyu moving from the drought-stricken area of Texas to the greener pastures of Wisconsin. Baycroft was fortunate to acquire a wonderful group of foundation cows with pure Takeda Farm genetics. With DNA verification and some detective work, we have a nucleus of Fujiyoshi bloodlines to enhance our program. In just over five years, we have come to appreciate the temperament, maternal traits, and growth rate of the Takeda cattle.

These pedigrees carry many crosses to the Japanese favorite sire, Dai 7 Itozakura. The Takeda herd sire Itomichi (source of frame and growth) is found in most maternal pedigrees. The maternal pedigrees are dominated by cow families with foundations going back to Aino and the Japanese champion show cow Ezokintau. The Takeda cows milk extremely well and raise beautiful calves. They remain productive at 10-15 years of age. Embryos and semen are available!