A BEEF cattle producer from Eurongilly in southern NSW has earned the title of producing the "best fillet" and "best sirloin" steak in the world.
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He was recently honoured in Dublin, Ireland, for producing the meat which is marketed under the label of Jack's Creek.
John Martin of "Dollar Vale", runs F2 Wagyu cattle and is humble about his accomplishments and acknowledges his family and employees for much of the success.
Yet it's not every farmer who can lay claim to selling their beef in Harrods of London with a price tag of 350 pounds a kilogram or around $620 a kilogram in Australian dollars.
By embracing the demands of a high-end international market and producing a specialised product Mr Martin has been able to buffer his operation from the fluctuations of the Australian cattle market.
Back in 1990 he purchased Wagyu embryos and began producing the marbled, or meat that has intramuscular fat, steaks for the high-end markets.
Over the years he has taken the lead from the Japanese and combined that with a knowledge of what works here in Australia, to get the right balance.
It is not an uncommon occurrence to visitors from Japan visiting or staying at "Dollar Vale" to view the operation and share their expertise.
"This accomplishment needs a team effort, which involves our staff who do the feeding, accompanied by John McGowan who runs the feedlot," he said.
"We are grateful for the international marketing done by Jack's Creek and also the abattoir at Casino for the processing," he said.
"The presentation of the (meat) cuts requires very strict supervision right through to end up with a product of this quality," he said.
The decision to purchase the Takeda-blood embryos all of those years ago has now paid dividends. And that provided with some handy Angus genetics has resulted in cattle that suit the environment here.
The aim is to put the 16 to 18 month-old steers, that weigh around 400 kilograms (or 350 for heifers) into a feedlot and feed them for 450 to 470 days.
Mr Martin said the result was to turnoff cattle from the feedlot that weigh 800 kilograms to 850 kilograms.
"At my age and stage in life I feel like this is the culmination of a lot of work and just in concentrating on trying to do a job pretty well," he said.
"We are producing a fairly unique product, it is super tender and if you want to go to Harrods in London they stock it and the prime cuts sell for around 350 pounds a kilogram," he said.
The family operation, at "Dollar Vale" is headed up by Jim Coe who is Mr Martin's son in law.
In all the Jack's Creek label won 12 awards from 12 entries. The London-based competition, now in its fifth year, had a record 300 entries from 25 countries with awards presented in Dublin.
In total Australian entries were awarded 14 gold medals, 12 silver and four bronze.
Australia Agricultural Company's Wylarah Wagyu brand claimed a top going as did Darling Downs cattle business Mort & Co coming home with two gold, three silver and two bronze with their branded Grandchester Black Angus,grain-fed between 150 to 200 days and finished on Mort & Co ration at Pinegrove, near Millmerran.
The company's winning pure-bred black Angus, on 150 days of grain came from steers procured through the Elders networks and fed at Killara Feedlot, Quirindi, with two silver and one bronze for that entry.
