SHER Wagyu brand beef is produced with rigorous animal husbandry and pasture care standards and the quality control has paid off.

The Sher family company, Beefcorp Australia, was formed in 1996 to grow and market Wagyu premium beef and is now a multinational business.

Managing director Nick Sher and his wife, Vicki, own and manage 1214ha at Ballan and in the Tallangatta Valley. They also contract 10 farms in Victoria and NSW to grow their stock.

Nick has travelled extensively since 1996 and the company's beef is now exported to Japan, Korea, Hong Kong, Singapore, Thailand, China and the US.

Nick said they had built up their Wagyu genetics since 1991 after importing embryos from North America.

The Shers' herd currently consists of 7000 cattle, including their breeding stock of 1100 full-blood Wagyu and Wagyu-Angus cross.

They have 85 full-blood Wagyu bulls and aim to produce up to 5000 Wagyu-Holstein and high-percentage Wagyu calves annually for processing.

Wagyu crossed with Holstein cattle are what the Japanese have traditionally used to produce the marbled meat they enjoy.

Most of Beefcorp's calves come from 120 accredited dairy farms at one week of age and are then contracted to calf rearers.

The Shers' recipe for producing premium beef begins with hand-rearing the calves up to four months before they are grazed for a year.

The cattle are then grain-fed at a Peechelba feedlot for about 15 months to get to 700kg, after which they are sent to the Rockdale export-accredited abattoirs at Yanco in the Riverina.

The Shers' meticulously managed and extensive operation currently sells about 70 per cent of its processed product overseas and the rest in Australia.

Nick and Vicki run the business out of a converted corrugated-iron shearing shed office on their Ballan property, where they live with their three sons, Jack, 18, Sam, 16, and Charlie, 13.

Beefcorp Australia employs five full-time staff.

Nick said the company maintained high animal health standards, with appropriate animal husbandry and pasture renovation practices.

To prevent black disease, black leg, pulpy kidney, malignant oedema and tetanus, all the Shers' calves receive a Cattlevax 5-in-1 injection at between six and eight weeks old and then a booster shot about a month later.

Nick said the calves were first drenched at the start of autumn, then in May or June and again in spring.

He said the drenching and vaccinations were preventative measures which, when combined with proper feed, shelter and water, maintained good health.

"The control of parasites combined with good nutrition - that's the name of the game," Nick said.

He said the number of times they drenched their herd depended on how wet or dry the season was, but, as a general rule, they drench young cattle about three times a year.

Cows older than three years were not drenched, Nick said.

He said if cattle were moved to graze in an area that may have a liver-fluke problem, they would also be drenched with Fasinex.

"If the cattle are to be moved on to a background property, they will get another 5-in-1 vaccination," Nick said.

"They will also be drenched when they are about to be moved or just after they arrive."

Nick, a qualified agronomist with a Bachelor of Agriculture Science degree from Melbourne University, said they did a lot of pasture renovation.

"We use a fair bit of lime and superphosphate and do a lot of soil-testing," Nick said.

Part of the summer pasture renovation at the 283ha Ballan property involves planting a fodder crop, followed by a high-performance ryegrass direct-drilled into the same paddock the next year.

Nick said there were other means he could use to ensure healthy pasture.

One method, he said, was to graze a paddock after making hay or silage.

Another way to reduce parasites being passed on was to graze an area first with mature cattle, then rest it and allow young cattle on.