Time to Renew your AWA 2025-26 Membership | Australian Wagyu Association

As a valued member of the Australian Wagyu Association, we will shortly invite you to renew your membership with us for Financial Year 2026 (FY2026: July 1 2025 to June 30 2026).

As your CEO and on behalf of our staff, I thank you for your membership and your support of the AWA through continued use of our products and services.

As a company of Members, we are investing in our value-added service delivery and innovations so we may constantly improve our products to assist Members in improving their business performance. We look forward to delivering considerable improvements in our Member service systems and our genetic improvement tools over the FY2026 period. Over the past Financial Year, AWA has been working on:

Delivery of Technology and Innovation:

The AWA and our Members are the world leaders in innovation and delivery for the Wagyu Sector, with the benefits of research available to all Members. Through the last financial year, the AWA has increased investment in projects that will enable delivery of our 2025-2030 Strategic Plan, including:

The 2021-2031 AWA Progeny Test Program is completing its first slaughter program for Cohort 1 male progeny. Data from 300 of 500 total Fullblood carcases has already been collected, with significant impacts on sire EBVs. The Program has completed its third calving year cohort, with over 2,500 progeny born. The fourth breeding cycle has been completed and the sire intake is complete for cohort 5. In total, 125 Member-nominated sires have been used in the program, with all progeny DNA tested and all data including live animal, maternal and carcase data recorded in BREEDPLAN to benefit all.
New traits such as Fatty Acid profiles are under development. We have collected samples from all AWA-PTP carcases for laboratory analysis and these samples are being calibrated for rapid in-chiller assessment. We will continue to collect samples from AWA-PTP cohort 2 along with industry samples to expedite the development of the objective fatty acid grading tool and EBV.
Independent analysis of AWA data to re-estimate genetic parameters has been completed, with complete analysis of AWA’s pedigree, performance and genomic data conducted to assess improvements in AWA’s genetic evaluation to be implemented during FY2026.
New Database systems have been developed as part of the AWA Helical platform that will allow one-touch Member DNA testing and registration, along with automated parentage verification and improved data display for Members. This is now completed and will be launched during AWA Regional Member Workshops in FY2026.
The Wagyu Feeder Check commercial genomic tool has been integrated into the AWA Helical platform. Under a commercial partnership with Neogen Australasia and CSIRO, a second calibration of the tool was completed using 17,000 carcase records across Wagyu, Angus x Wagyu, Bos indicus x Wagyu and Bos Taurus x Wagyu breed types.
Genomic Diversity calculations have been implemented through the Helical platform and the entire genotyped population analysed for genetic diversity at the genomic level. Genetic Diversity values for every Fullblood Japanese Black animal with a genomic profile are now published at no additional cost to Members.
Genomic Inbreeding calculations have been developed through the Helical platform, with calculation of actual genomic inbreeding vs assumed pedigree inbreeding complete every Fullblood Japanese Black animal with a genomic profile are now published at no additional cost to Members.
New Abacus Bio Selection Indexes were released at the 2025 Annual General Meeting, with the Fullblood Terminal and F1 Terminal Indexes now running in parallel with the self-replacing herd Breeder Feeder Index (BFI).

Delivery of Services:

The AWA has delivered on our commitment to serve and support our Members through:

Total Herdbook registrations totalled almost 40,000 individual animals for FY2025.
Total AWA membership included 1,432 Members, of which 1,247 are Full Members and 179 are Associate Members.
A 30% increase in genomic DNA testing turnover to 100,000 genomic tests for the last financial year with average turnaround time maintained at 4-6 weeks.
The AWA provides the largest and most accurate global genetic analysis of Wagyu with over 400,000 animals included in our fortnightly Wagyu BREEDPLAN analysis.
Increasing carcase data used in the AWA genetic analysis, with over 50,000 carcase data records now submitted for more than 2,500 sires. This provides increased coverage and accuracy of EBVs for the global Wagyu population.
The AWA now has 70 Members with MIJ mobile accounts worldwide to enable affordable access to Meat Image Japan carcase ribeye grading and data submission to the Wagyu BREEDPLAN genetic analysis. 40,000 images have been taken over FY2025
The AWA International Office was opened 17 May 2024 in Fort Worth Texas to allow AWA staff to service more than 500 international members that predominantly work in time zones that do not align with Australian office hours.
Total AWA website Animal and Member transaction searches exceed 2.5 million searches for the year, demonstrating the global recognition of AWA registration and genetic evaluation.
507 people attended the 2025 WagyuEdge Conference in Perth Western Australia.
The 2025 Wagyu Branded Beef Competition again broke all prior records, with 90 brand entries.

AWA invests a proportion of its Membership funds in research, innovation and delivery to benefit all Members. In FY2025, the AWA Board held its’ policy target for Membership funds to be invested in R&D at 5% of revenue. For FY2026, this investment amount will be maintained to continue delivery of R&D for new products for AWA members, including investigation of genetic defects, developing fatty acid profiling technology for use on carcases, development of EBVs for fatty acids and Net Feed Intake.

Effective from 1 July 2025, the AWA is increasing its fees commensurate with increased costs of business. AWA Membership, registrations, transfers, sponsorships, EWS entries and advertising to increase 3%. DNA genotyping costs will increase in line with slight price increases from the labs, which is within 5% for the majority of tests, noting that new DNA testing products will be delivered that provide a significant reduction in costs for some products.

I look forward to working with you in FY2026, and hope to see you at our next Genetics and Genomics Workshop together with our AGM in November 2025 (location and date to be announced) and our WagyuEdge 2026 Conference in Brisbane Queensland 15-17 April 2026.

Sincerely,

Dr Matt McDonagh

Company Secretary/CEO

Important Notice and Disclaimer

It is very important that you appreciate when viewing the AWA database that the information contained on the AWA database, including but not limited to pedigree, DNA information, Estimated Breeding Values (EBVs) and Index values, is based on data supplied by members and/or third parties.

Whilst every effort is made to ensure the accuracy of the information reported through AWA, AWA officers and employees assume no responsibility for its content, use or interpretation. AWA disclaims all liability (including without limitation, liability in negligence) for all expenses, losses, damages and costs you may incur as a result of the use by you of the data on this AWA database and the information supplied by ABRI and AGBU being inaccurate or incomplete in any way for any reason.

Regarding EBVs and Index values, it is very important to appreciate, and you need to be aware that:

EBVs are derived using Wagyu Single Step BREEDPLAN technology developed independently by the Animal Genetics and Breeding Unit (AGBU), using the information contained within the AWA database.
AGBU is a joint venture of NSW Department of Primary Industries and the University of New England, which receives funding for this purpose from Meat and Livestock Australia Limited.
AWA relies solely on advice provided by AGBU and ABRI in accepting Wagyu Single Step BREEDPLAN software.
EBVs published in Wagyu Single Step BREEDPLAN are estimates of genetic potential of individual animals and may not reflect the raw animal phenotype.
EBVs can only be directly compared to other EBVs calculated in the same monthly Wagyu Group BREEDPLAN analysis.

Regarding pedigree and DNA testing results submitted to the AWA, it is very important to appreciate, and you need to be aware that:

Animals whose registration identifiers start with PED are Pedigree Recorded Animals. What this means is that the details which Australia Wagyu Association Limited (AWA) used to register the animal were obtained from a Recognised Wagyu Registry Organisation – in other words a Wagyu breed association based outside of Australia. AWA has not independently verified the information with respect to the animal or the details recorded about the animal. You should read AWA’s by-laws which sets out details regarding the definition of a Pedigree Recorded Animal.
Future events cannot be predicted accurately. AWA makes no statements, representations or warranties as to the accuracy or completeness of, and you should not rely on, any information contained in the registration details of this animal or their capability to achieve any purpose. AWA disclaims all liability (including without limitation, liability for negligence) for all claims, expenses, losses, damages and costs you may incur as a result of the information set out in the registration details of this animal for any reason being inaccurate or incomplete in any way or incapable of achieving any purpose.
Pedigree and DNA data submitted and supplied to AWA may have errors in it which cannot be detected without further DNA testing.
Technology may have advanced since a particular test was undertaken so that previous inaccuracies which were not detectable are now able to be detected by current testing technology.
AWA estimates that less than 1% of the pedigree entries, ownership or breeding details in the AWA Herdbook may have errors or which may be misleading. For this reason, users ought to consider if they need to obtain independent testing of the relevant animal (if possible) to ensure that the data is accurate.

Regarding prefectural content, it is very important to appreciate, and you need to be aware that:

Prefectural content is based on the estimation of prefectural origin from Japanese breeding records of 201 foundation sires and 168 foundation dams. As genotype-based parent verification is not used in Japan, and full Japanese registration certificates are not available for all foundation animals, exact prefectural composition for these sires and dams cannot be validated.
The calculation of prefectural content for Australian Herdbook animals relies on the accuracy of pedigree records and DNA samples provided by AWA members.
The reporting of prefectural content for animals within the AWA Herdbook relies on the calculation provided by ABRI.

If you consider that you do not understand or appreciate the nature and extent of the data provided on this website or the EBVs of a particular animal, then AWA strongly recommends that you seek independent expert advice.