Business Notes ANIMAL HUSBANDRY

Fuji, Judo, Mazda and Ryusho are dead but not forgotten. The four Wagyu bulls, smuggled from their native Japan to the U.S. in 1972, left a valuable legacy for Texas cattleman Don Lively. His stockpile of semen from the bulls and their descendants, which are believed to be the only strain ever to leave Japan, is worth $2 million. The cattle produce tender Kobe beef, a delicacy that sells in Japan for as much as $180 per lb. Lively and his partner have sold $1 million worth of the semen at $250 a vial, in contrast to $25 for the typical U.S. variety. Ranchers from Canada to New Zealand foresee a bonanza in Wagyu beef because Japan has little room for raising cattle. They expect to boost meat shipments to Japan when the country lifts import quotas on beef next year.