King Mountain Cattle: Premium Products and Passionate People

Guest Column - By: Abby Scholz

Specialty and rare might be the first words that come to ones’ mind when contemplating the concept of American Wagyu beef. While this notable breed has only been in the United States for the last fifty years, the impact that these cattle are making on producers and consumers alike is impressive.

One of those producers whose life has been impacted by American Wagyu cattle is Jed Kirby, a co-owner of King Mountain Cattle (KMC), located in McCoy, Colorado. The Kirby family began selling farm-to-fork beef in June of 2020, when the meat counters were bare, and consumers were searching for a beef product to enjoy with their families that could also be purchased at an affordable price.

The American Wagyu beef breed originated in Japan, and according to the American Wagyu Association, pieces of their genotype can be traced back to almost 35,000 years ago. Originally these cattle were selected for draft purposes, and the emphasis for intra-muscular fat became important because of the steady energy that it could provide while the cattle were working.

The same important selection criteria were emphasized in Japan during the 1800s are the same basic principles that drew the Kirby family to start raising American Wagyu beef. After trying to diversify their predominately Angus herd, they were confronted by a local rancher who was dispersing his American Wagyu cows. Before buying any cattle themselves though, they wanted to see if they liked the proclaimed eating experience that is often touted with American Wagyu beef. One flavorful steak that everyone loved and 19 cows later, they love that American Wagyu is heart healthy and each bite is extremely flavorful.

While the Kirby’s find immense value in their American Wagyu herd, the Japanese also had the same realization in the late 1990s. The first four bulls were imported to the United States in 1974, and more females and bulls were brought over in the 1990s. Soon after, Japan began to realize their secret beef weapon they had created by crossing American Wagyu cattle with other breeds like Brown Swiss, Simmental, and Ayrshires. Because of the impact that this value-added product was beginning to make, the Japanese government banned all exports of American Wagyu semen, embryos, and live cattle in the late 1990s. During that time though, the United States had been exporting American Wagyu beef to Japan, and that occurred until 2003, when Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) was discovered.

Over the last 30 years, American Wagyu beef sales have been steadily increasing. A business insight site concluded that the global American Wagyu beef market size was at 23.94 billion in 2023 and is expected to grow to 42.69 billion by 2032.

Kirby and his family have also seen a growth in sales as they have overcome challenges of finding their consumer base and have continually been building relationships with large, high-end resteraunts. They are able to supply beef to two resteraunts in Denver, one meat shop in Evergreen, Colorado, and have a presence at 4 Seasons in Nashville, Tennessee. What’s even more impressive, they currently have the capacity to ship their premium product to all 50 states and attend several farmers markets in Denver to keep spreading the flavorful experience of American Wagyu beef.

Through word of mouth and a little boost from social media, they have become the biggest source for American Wagyu beef production in Northwest Colorado and continue to focus on how they can keep improving their operation each day. Through American Wagyu beef, Kirby has had the once in a lifetime opportunity to get connected with industry leaders across the globe.

One incredible connection has been with the company, Meat Eating Quality (MEQ), an Australian based business, that has developed a camera scanner for carcasses. This camera can identify intramuscular fat content, ribeye area, backfat, and develop a marbling score, among other pieces of data. This information goes directly into a database, which allows the producer to evaluate each carcass’ performance. After it is generated, it then goes into the Australian American Wagyu Association to directly impact the bulls expected progeny differences (EPD). Because of this easy-to-use technology, they can place the marbling and intramuscular fat on packaging labels to verify the quality of the product so that the KMC customers know exactly what they are eating. Most notably, Kirby is one of two certified graders to have this technology in North America.

While technology is certainly going to change the beef industry as a whole, Kirby wants to focus on making their operation the best that it can be. He hopes that over the next five years, they can open up a small retail store in the world-renowned ski town, Vail, to keep showing consumers how American Wagyu can be a valuable asset to their family’s health and also taste good in the process. Additionally, the entire Kirby family wants to hone in on genetics and showcase those genetics across the country by marketing them on a national scale. 

From a Japanese breed to an American sensation, American Wagyu beef is making waves in the beef industry, now, and for centuries to come.