Roberta and David York pose at their Central Oregon Wagyu ranch south of Redmond. (Geoff Folsom/Spokesman photo)

A Redmond-area couple are bringing a taste of Japanese beef to Central Oregon.

Steve and Roberta York have operated Central Oregon Wagyu on their 100-acre ranch south of the six corners for the past five years. The Wagyu cattle they raise eating grass are descended from Japan and produce a product similar to Kobe beef, a popular meat that is required to be raised in a Japanese region.

“There is a misconception when people say Kobe beef,” said Roberta, 62. “They don’t realize it’s really Wagyu beef.”

Wagyu (which means “Japanese beef” in Japanese) beef is popular because the cattle have more intramuscular fat cells, which creates tasty “marbling,” according to the American Wagyu Association’s website. Wagyu also has a higher concentration of a fatty acid called conjugated linoleic acid than other beef, which brings health benefits.

The Yorks have 135 total cows, 26 of them full-blood Wagyu cattle.

With high demand and a limited number of female Wagyu to breed, they bring in an embryologist to artificially inseminate Wagyu embryos in commercial cattle from other breeds that they keep at the ranch. That allows cows from American breeds to mother full-blooded Wagyu calves.

The Yorks also breed commercial cows with a Wagyu bull and sell the resulting beef for a lower price than the full Wagyu. Eventually, the part-Wagyu calve is expected to grow up and breed with a full-Wagyu to create a cow that is closer to full breed.

Any cow that is more than five-eighths Wagyu provides great flavor nearly all the time, David, 57, said. They charge around $40 a pound for a full-blooded Wagyu steak, about twice as much as Wagyu-angus cross beef.

Central Oregon Wagyu sells bulls and steers but are still a couple years away from having enough female cows to sell, David said.

David raised cattle when he was young but left for a while to get in the construction business. He became interested in ranching again when a friend educated him on Wagyu.

“I made a decision that if I’m going to go back into cattle, it doesn’t make sense to get into anything but Wagyu,” he said.

It wasn’t hard to convince Roberta to join him.

“They really grow on you,” she said of the cattle. “They’re so sweet and so docile, and they’re cute.”

They sell their beef online, as well as at farmers markets in Lake Oswego and at Northwest Crossing in Bend. They plan to open a farm store at their property, located at 7500 SW Canal Blvd, by the end of the summer. It could eventually sell produce or knickknacks, but that will be down the road.

“I think we will open and then add other products, but the focus is going to be on our beef,” David said.

— Reporter: 541-548-2186, gfolsom@redmondspokesman.com