Aosta Black Pied

What do Aosta Black Pied cattle look like?

A taurine breed with no hump, the Aosta Black Pied is a mountain animal. Its coat is black-pied: the black areas carry only black hair, while the belly and legs are often white. The head is usually black and may show a white star. Both sexes grow short horns with black tips, and the muzzle, the mucosa (the soft lining of the nose and mouth) and the hooves are slate-black. The hooves are especially hard. Cows stand 120 to 125 cm at the withers, the ridge between the shoulders, and weigh 450 to 550 kg; bulls reach 130 to 135 cm and 550 to 650 kg.

Where does the Aosta Black Pied come from?

The breed belongs to the Aosta Valley, in the north-west of Italy. With the Aosta Chestnut and the Aosta Red Pied it forms the three regional cattle types of that area. All three grew out of mixing among local cattle. For the Black Pied, the strongest outside influence appears to be Swiss: the Fribourgeoise, which died out in the 1970s, and the Hérens, both of which reached the valley over the Great St. Bernard Pass. A society of breeders was set up in 1937, and a herd book was started in 1985.

What the Aosta Black Pied is known for

These are robust, frugal cattle that cope well with hard conditions. They can use high Alpine pasture at 2,500 metres and above, which few cattle manage. The animals are hardy rather than highly productive: the Black Pied gives less milk than the Aosta Red Pied but holds its own on poorer ground. Its productive ability is thought to have been lowered by past crossing with the Aosta Chestnut, which aimed at animals that fight well. Management is transhumant: housed only in winter, walking up the mountain as the season advances.

How the Aosta Black Pied is bred and kept

A herd book has been kept since 1985, and a society formed in 1937 looks after the interests of the Aosta Valley breeds. The background is a blend of local valley cattle with Swiss blood, chiefly the Fribourgeoise and the Hérens. Crossing with the Aosta Chestnut has been used to produce cows with fighting ability, and this is held to have reduced the Black Pied's productivity. Herds follow a transhumant round of winter housing and summer grazing high in the Alps, and the breed occupies only a limited stretch of the valley.

What the Aosta Black Pied is kept for

The cattle are kept for two things, milk and meat. A lactation averages 2,846 kg, with 3.43 per cent fat and 3.38 per cent protein. That is a modest figure beside the Aosta Red Pied, and the gap is often blamed on past crossing with the Aosta Chestnut for fighting stock. Beef comes from the same herds. The cows also appear in the Batailles de Reines, the informal cow fights of the valley, and a good fighter gains noticeably in market value.

The land and climate of the Aosta Black Pied

This is a mountain breed. It lives in the Aosta Valley and on the high pastures of the Alps, grazing at 2,500 metres and above in summer and moving up as the season goes on. Hard hooves help it on rough, stony slopes, and a frugal appetite lets it do well where richer breeds would struggle. In winter the cattle come down and are kept indoors. Its distribution is limited to a fairly small part of the Aosta Valley.

The Aosta Black Pied at fairs and festivals

Fighting between cows, the Batailles de Reines, is the great event of the Aosta Valley. The contests have been recorded for more than 150 years, and their formal running dates from 1958, when a regional committee took charge. About twenty contests are held each year from March to October. They build to a final battle in which the winning cow is crowned Reine, or queen. The events matter socially as much as they do for farming, and success can raise a cow's market value.

Custom and folk tradition

Herding in the Aosta Valley follows the seasons. Cattle go up to the summer Alps and come down again before winter, and the breed has long been part of that round. Cow fighting is an older custom still: informal contests have been watched in the valley for over a century and a half, and local people follow them closely. Black Pied cows graze in mixed herds alongside red pied animals on the high ground, as at Cogne.

Keeping Aosta Black Pied cattle

Cattle are stabled through the winter and sent up to the Alpine pastures in summer, following the grass higher as the season goes on. They eat sparingly and stay in condition on rough mountain grazing, and their unusually hard hooves cope with stony ground. The whole year turns on this movement between valley floor and mountain.

Related breeds and crosses

The breed's neighbours in its own valley are the Aosta Chestnut and the Aosta Red Pied; all three share the same mixed background, and the Chestnut has been crossed with the Black Pied to breed fighting cows. Swiss cattle stand behind it, above all the Hérens and the now extinct Fribourgeoise, which came over the Great St. Bernard Pass. It is one of eleven breeds in an Alpine umbrella group, with the Pinzgauer, Tiroler Grauvieh, Abondance, Tarentaise, Vosgienne, Hinterwälder, Vorderwälder, Rendena and Hérens.

Numbers, conservation and the herd book

Numbers have fallen sharply. In 1946 the breed was thought to number about 30,000 head. The figure was put at 7,120 in 1983, and by 2014 it was reported as 794. In 2007 the FAO classed the breed as not at risk. A society founded in 1937 represents the Aosta Valley cattle, and a herd book has existed since 1985. The cattle are not spread widely: they are found in the Valpelline, the Vallon de Saint-Barthélemy, the Vallon d'Ollomont and the hills along the Dora Baltea between Nus and Aosta.

Questions people ask about Aosta Black Pied

Good reading and sources

• Aosta Black Pied on WikipediaEncyclopedia
• More photos on Wikimedia CommonsPhotos and video
• Wikidata recordOpen data