Australian farmer and meat producer John McLeod is supplying his 60 Wagyu beef cows a local premium wine on request of a client, the famous Japanse chef Akio Yamamoto.
The wine is a mix of the grape varieties cabernet, shiraz
en merlot and is mixed in their normal diet with each animal consuming about a
litre a day for 60 days. Though the quantity was not enough to make the cows
tipsy, it appeared to increase their appetite and calm them.
“The cows
tend to eat more than they should so I guess they like the taste,” McLeod said.
“The anti-oxidant properties that we associate with red wine appear to have an
effect on the meat’s colour and shelf life, and from the tests we carried out
the meat also tastes sweeter.”
Wine for cows
might be unusual in Europe, Yamamoto’s idea is considered quite normal in Japan.
Japanse producers of top quality meat are doing everything they can to please
the cows, hoping the meat will taste better in the end. Some Japanese
producers of Wagyu beef
pamper their cows
daily with beer, massages and music.