PIEDMONTESE BREED CHARACTERISTICS

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THE PIEDMONTESE BREED

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The Piedmontese cattle breed is a native bovine breed of Piedmont, but with very ancient origins. From archaeological finds, rock inscriptions and fossil remains it is assumed that the current Piedmontese cattle breed derives from a cross between the Aurochs type bovine breed already present in the Pleistocene in the north-western areas of present-day Piedmont and a Zebu breed originating from the Indian continent (western Pakistan) which migrated to Europe 25,000/30,000 years ago. The breed has good adaptability to breeding in altitude zones different from the plains to high-altitude pastures. This also results in a high longevity. Due to its robustness and strength, in the past this breed was also used for work and for milk production. Compared to other meat breeds, milk production is however greater and often, once the needs of the calf have been covered, the farmer uses the milk for the production of typical cheeses of the region such as toma, castelmagno, raschera. With the development of agricultural mechanization, attention has been paid to favouring the aptitude of the animals for meat production and, starting from the 1960s, to identifying the specimens most suited to this purpose. A type of bovine (part of the Piedmontese breed) has therefore been selected, the so-called "fassona" or double rump" New paragraph

This peculiar characteristic of the Piedmontese breed called muscular hypertrophy or double rump or Fassone was discovered to be due to a natural mutation of the gene that codes for myostatin, a protein that limits muscle growth. The spread of this mutation was then selected by breeders and the selection center for the bulls of the Piedmontese breed "ANABORAPI" since the mid-twentieth century to a point where almost all the animals in the genealogical book possess this characteristic and a very high percentage of the breed as a whole. The quality of the meat is therefore linked to this particular morphological characteristic expressed by muscular hypertrophy at the level of the thighs and buttocks, but almost all over the body and by a complex of anatomical peculiarities (thin skin adhering to the muscles, small head, long trunk, short and thin tail, slender but robust shanks) such as to configure the Piedmontese breed bovine among the best breeds in the world for meat production. Furthermore, the almost total absence of subcutaneous fat makes The meat of this tender and lean breed is particularly renowned. The characteristics of the meat, the yield at slaughter, the adaptation to the most marginal lands, the longevity, the robustness have meant that this breed has gradually been bred in other Italian regions as well and in Italy in 2017 it was the third most bred bovine breed.

PIEDMONTESE EMBRYOBOV BREED

At the end of the 1980s in Canada, starting from cattle originating in Piedmont, a local bovine breed was created, now known as the North American Piedmontese, which later spread to the United States of America. At the end of the 1990s, a project was started to improve the quality and quantity of beef production in China, as the ability of the Piedmontese breed to improve the final product was now widely recognized, both in first-generation and three-way crossbreeding (see ART Bosticco), so much so that in China the breed is appreciated above all for its role as a crossbreeding breed. From statistical analyses of Piedmontese breed semen sales, it is clear that many countries (Morocco, Venezuela, Ecuador, USA) appreciate this breed and the possibilities of spreading the breed through the export of semen and embryos are paths to be explored by both institutions and private individuals.
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