Maremmana

What do Maremmana cattle look like?

The Maremmana is a large grey Italian breed of the Podolic family, kept on the coastal plains of the Maremma. Its coat is grey, and bulls run darker than cows, particularly over the shoulders and front. The muzzle, hooves, tail tuft and the lower part of the scrotum are black, and the skin underneath is black too; a little loss of pigment at the natural openings is accepted. Calves arrive wheat-coloured and turn grey at about three months. The horns are strong, curving in a half-moon in bulls and forming a lyre in cows; they look slate-grey on young stock and grow whitish with black tips. Cows stand 143 to 150 cm, bulls 150 to 155 cm.

Where does the Maremmana come from?

Nobody can say for certain where the Maremmana came from. One account traces it to Bos taurus macrocerus, a form attested by finds in the Etruscan sites of Caere and Vetulonia, with Podolic cattle added later by eastern invaders including the Huns. A second account calls the breed a straight descendant of Asiatic grey cattle; a third derives it from the aurochs, Bos primigenius primigenius. Herds grazed the malarial marshes of the Maremma over many generations, tended on horseback by the butteri. From 1737 to 1859 the Habsburg grand-dukes of Tuscany sent Maremmano bulls to their Hungarian estates to improve Hungarian Grey Cattle. Marshes were drained in the Fascist Battle for Land, the herd book opened in 1935, and breeders then worked on body weight with some success.

What the Maremmana is known for

It is the sort of animal that does well where feed is thin. Breeders have come back to the Maremmana because it suits the rough ground and meagre grazing of the Maremma, coping with poor pasture that other cattle struggle on. It can live semi-feral all year round with hardly any supervision. The horns are robust, the skin is black and pigmented, and the breed grows into a heavy frame; bulls can reach 850 to 1000 kg. This mix of size and low demands is what the breed is valued for today.

How the Maremmana is bred and kept

A herd book was started in 1935 and has recorded the breed ever since. Breeding aims shifted over time: after the marshes were drained, selection pressed for heavier animals, and in 1986 the breed standard was rewritten so that productivity counted for more than other points. Herds are commonly run outdoors on open range, and the cattle are hardy enough to stay out in a semi-feral state through the year, which keeps management costs low. Bulls stand taller at the withers than cows and weigh several hundred kilos more. The book held 9,801 head at the end of 2012.

What the Maremmana is kept for

Oxen once did the heavy work here: ploughing and forestry, haulage, and drawing loads in the marble quarries of Monte Amiata. That role has gone, and the breed is now a beef animal. The breed standard of 1986 tilted selection towards production, and the carcase is the main product. Along with the Chianina, which most people know better, the Maremmana is one of the two breeds behind bistecca alla fiorentina, the grilled Tuscan steak. Slow Food has put the breed on its Ark of Taste, a register of foods thought worth safeguarding. It is classed as dual-purpose, for beef and draught.

The land and climate of the Maremmana

The Maremmana belongs to the Maremma, a coastal district that was once marshland, crossing from Tuscany into Lazio in central Italy. The old marshes were malarial, and the cattle that grazed them were left largely to themselves. Drainage in the twentieth century removed much of the wetland, but the breed kept its footing on the drier, rougher ground that remained. It is kept mainly in the provinces of Grosseto, Rome and Viterbo. Thin pasture and difficult country suit it, and it can stay outdoors right through the year.

Who keeps the Maremmana

The people most closely tied to the breed are the butteri, the mounted herdsmen of the Maremma, who watched over the herds on horseback across the marshes and open range. A man on a horse could move a big herd over wet ground that a man on foot could not. The herds were large and the cattle half-wild, so riding was part of the job. Today the butteri are remembered more as a local tradition than as a large workforce, and the cattle are kept by farmers in the Grosseto, Rome and Viterbo provinces.

Custom and folk tradition

The old herding life is remembered in pictures as much as in practice. A woodcut printed in the Penny Magazine in 1832 shows cattle being driven through the Maremma, and the mounted butteri became a familiar figure of the region. Herds were big, the ground wet and unhealthy, and the animals were handled at a distance rather than in byres. That half-wild routine has left its mark on the breed, which still runs out on poor pasture with light supervision.

Keeping Maremmana cattle

Keeping Maremmana cattle takes little labour. They run outdoors on open range and find their own living on poor pasture, staying out all year with only light supervision. Handlers work them on horseback in the old manner. Bulls are much the heavier sex, so they need careful handling. Selection since the marshes were drained has kept body weight up.

Related breeds and crosses

The Maremmana sits in the Podolic group of grey cattle, the same broad family as other European grey breeds. Its closest working link is with Hungarian Grey Cattle: between 1737 and 1859 Tuscany's Habsburg rulers sent Maremmano bulls to Hungary to improve that breed. At the table it is paired with the Chianina, the other breed used for bistecca alla fiorentina. Older accounts place it near the Asiatic grey cattle, and some writers tie it to the long-horned Bos taurus macrocerus known from Etruscan sites.

Numbers, conservation and the herd book

A herd book for the breed opened in 1935 and is the main record of its fortunes. Numbers fell sharply after the war, as tractors took over work that oxen had done. In 1956 the tally stood at 157,387 animals; fifty years on, in 2006, only 8,812 were left. The book counted 9,801 at the end of 2012, so the decline had at least stopped. Renewed interest in the breed's ability to live on poor ground has helped. Its place on the Ark of Taste is a further sign of recognition.

Questions people ask about Maremmana

Good reading and sources

• Maremmana on WikipediaEncyclopedia
• More photos on Wikimedia CommonsPhotos and video
• Wikidata recordOpen data