Charlie Perry has overseen substantial growth in his family’s Australian Wagyu beef stud business since taking the reins in 2016, expanding its scale to drive a five-fold lift in annual sales of high-quality bulls. He says the relationships forged through the Zanda McDonald Award have been “tremendously valuable” both personally and professionally.
Although bull sales are part and parcel of life for Wagyu beef farmer Charlie Perry, his emotions run high just thinking about the auction held in September 2023 by his family’s business, Trent Bridge Wagyu.
“It was the biggest Wagyu bull sale that had ever happened by a single vendor,” says Charlie, who runs the Wagyu stud operation which spreads across 9000 acres around Aberfoyle on the Northern Tablelands in New South Wales, Australia.
“We’d made the decision to go to auction for the first time, rather than the usual private paddock sales. The market was going through a significant downturn at that time, and there were a lot of people who thought it might be a bit of a tough sale.
“But we ended up having a very strong sale – 156 bulls, with a full clearance making it a very, very satisfying day for our family and our team.”
Charlie puts the success down to his family’s deep personal relationships throughout the Wagyu supply chain, and the high quality of their offering, two areas that have been his big focus since returning home to Trent Bridge in 2016 to run the business in partnership with his parents, Jen and Wal, after almost a decade away.
He’d initially pursued an off-farm career, having been encouraged in that direction by his parents – who at that time were running a superfine wool sheep operation at Trent Bridge and battling the Millenium drought. “I’m incredibly grateful to my parents for that bit of advice,” reflects Charlie, who was crowned the 2022 Zanda McDonald Award winner.
“But I loved farming and always knew that at some point, I would return.” The time away from the farm proved useful. After studying at Sydney University, Charlie had joined global professional services firm EY, where he spent the next seven years advising big clients across multiple sectors on major projects, gaining invaluable experience along the way, such as strategy definition, financial analysis and negotiation skills.
“So, while I’m a terrible mechanic, I was able to bring back to our business some really strong rigour around looking at where we’re trying to get to and how we’re going to get there,” he says.
“It has also helped me establish strong relationships and negotiate arrangements across supply chains and joint ventures with different parties – I get a real kick out of designing agreements that can be a real win-win for everyone involved.”
Charlie’s parents had turned their hand to breeding Wagyu bulls in 2005, at a time the industry was in its infancy. By his return to the farm in 2016, they’d grown their seed stock business, were selling between 20 to 30 bulls annually, and had developed an F1 component – a cow bred 50 percent Wagyu and 50 percent Angus to produce a unique combination with Wagyu marbling and the beefy taste of prime Angus meat.
Since his return, the growth of the business has seriously accelerated.
The family has more than quadrupled the size of their land, from 2000 to 9000 acres, and invested heavily in fencing, water and feedlot infrastructure to increase carrying capacity. The business now joins around 1600 head of cattle, including 850 stud cows and has sold around 200 bulls annually over the past few years.
Genetic progress has remained a top priority, reflected in more than 80 percent of Trent Bridge’s 2023 sale bulls being ranked in the top 10 percent of the breed for the influential Wagyu selection indices, the Fullblood Terminal Index and the F1 Terminal Index.
Given the importance of genetics in optimising resource efficiencies, during his time as president of the Australian Wagyu Association, Charlie was the driving force behind the introduction of the Wagyu Feeder Check, a commercial DNA genomic test to determine each animal’s genetic merit, a boon for the Wagyu industry, which has grown to make up about 20 percent of the Australian beef industry today.
Like all farming businesses, Charlie says the job hasn’t been without its challenges. These have included the “normal” issues that farmers deal with – like the day that his newly purchased property was in the direct line of a major bushfire during the Black Summer of 2019/20.
There have also been plenty of Wagyu industry specific challenges. “We’re 100 per cent geared to a luxury product, which has high price volatility,” Charlie says.
“And while every commodity or product has economic cycles, our economic cycles are on steroids – which poses both a challenge, but also an opportunity. It is fascinating how macro issues like China’s current economic slow down, the liquidation of the Korean cow herd or the rainfall in the US can impact farmgate prices.”
Charlie says a key aspect of the Zanda McDonald Award that nudged him to enter was the value he could see in broadening his base of mentors as his business continues to grow.
“It hasn’t just been the business owners or senior executives that I’ve learned from,” he says. “It’s the peers I’ve met. Most of us are going through similar stages of our lives and careers, and it doesn’t matter what business you’re in, if you’re going through a growth period and you’ve got a young family there are always the same challenges.”
He also valued the extent to which his mentoring trip could be tailored. “I got to meet with four of the top seedstock businesses in the country. For me, with a growing seedstock business, to visit their farms and spend time with them was amazing,” he says. “What struck me, was despite how different each business was, one thing they each had in common was their relentless pursuit to innovate and lead in their industry. For a young producer that was quite inspiring.”
After eight years of aggressive business growth – coupled with the arrival of his and wife Georgia’s two children within the last two years – Charlie says the immediate future is all about consolidation.
“We’re really focused on improving our processes and systems. Any growth is likely to be through joint ventures or leases, rather than acquiring more land – although if my neighbour knocked on my door, I’d be listening,” he says.
“I’ll also be trying to make sure that I’ve got all my priorities well balanced across the farm and family.