Woodview Wagyu's
A stud (purebred) herd of 400 Wagyu Females.
Woodview Feeders
We supply free range Wagyu and Angus beef as well as feedlot beef. A 300 head capacity Feedlot. We feed a natural ration of field hay, sun ripened corn and silage and our cattle grow slowly and naturally. There are no antibiotics in our feed, nor do we use implants and we do not feed Zilmax.
Woodview Gourmet Foods
The marketing and distributing arm of our Wagyu and Angus beef.
Brian Angus and his Kobe Style Beef win the Heritage Day, Ultimate Beef Challenge.
Steve Maresch of the Local Grill, the 2011 Eat Out Best Steakhouse Winner, has had a long love affair with beef and this is what led him to establish the first South African Ultimate Beef Challenge.
His search for the best steak was partly inspired by Canadian, Mark Schatzker, author of the book 'Steak' which was also inspired by a desire to unearth the best steak.
The Ultimate Beef Challenge took place at Birchwood Hotel & Conference centre in Boksburg, a stones through away from the Local Grill in Boksburg.
The event was well sponsored by many industry players and restaurants with FNB Private Banking playing a major role. Kaya FM were there to provide the music and entertainment along with a mechanical bull that no one seemed able to master.
Receiving his award is Brian Angus, accompanied by Ruda Landman and Arnold Tanzer with event organiser, Steve Maresch of the Local Grill on the right.
The Ultimate Beef Challenge Judges, a diverse mix of beef aficionados, farmers, award winning chefs, television personalities and a Gourmet Guy! It appears that they all came to the same conclusion, except for Mark Schatzker (seated 2nd from left) who picked 'Senepol' as his personal favourite.
Steve assembled an 18 member strong judging panel that included Marthinus Ferreira (Ultimate Braai Master Judge and owner of the Top 10 Restaurant DW Eleven-13), Stephen Billingham (President of the South African Chefs Association), Mike Said (Restaurant Consultant), Mark Schatzker (Author of the book "Steak"), Gourmet Guys editor Andrew Lieber and former Carte Blanche presenter Ruda Landman.
The judging proceedings and the braaing of the sirloin steaks was administered by Arnold Tanzer, Executive Producer of MasterChef SA.
Fourteen breeds of cattle were entered into the competition and it was the judges job through a blind tasting process to score each steak on it's colour, taste, texture, mouth feel and flavour & personality.
Brian Angus of Woodview and his Wagyu breed was the winner in every category. The Woodview Wagyu herd was started in 1999 when they purchased embryos from Takada Farms in the USA. These genetics were originally imported from Japan.
They had to complete a biological impact study at the ARC in Pretoria to get the breed accepted into South Africa Woodview says that Wagyu beef is different because of its marbling which results in a succulence that sends the taste buds reeling. The fat in the meat contains monounsaturated fats that melt at room temperature, which makes Wagyu beef suitable as part of a lower cholesterol diet.
The high degree of marbling adds depth of flavour that makes Wagyu beef the "caviar" of beef. The Wagyu bred in South Africa though are not farmed the same way as they are in Japan where they are fed copious amounts of beer and are massaged all day long.
Brian said that the beer in Japan is used to introduce yeast into the cow's stomach which keeps it working. The Wagyu cattle in Japan are raised in mountainous regions and as such do not get much free pasture to graze on.
