BEEF DELICACY FROM GERMANY

Wagyu beef is considered the best and most expensive in the world. Two young farmers are now raising the Japanese breed in the Sauerland region of Germany and marketing the product online and directly from their farm. The black cattle grazing in the pasture near Arnsberg, however, appear remarkably cute—smaller than a typical dairy cow. Their temperament is also impeccable: good-natured and calm, say the owners. But they were acquired for entirely different qualities: their finely marbled meat is considered the best in the world, and the most expensive. Those who breed and market Wagyu cattle—the Japanese original is known as Kobe beef—are therefore operating in a small, exclusive niche. But what else should one do when starting their own farm and avoiding the ever-faster-bigger-cheaper trap? Katrin Schütz and Christoph Willeke, at least, have chosen a different path, as the entrepreneurial couple explained in an interview with the Westfalenpost newspaper.