North American Piedmontese

What do North American Piedmontese cattle look like?

These are beef animals of medium to large build. Fullblood cows stand about 135 cm at the withers, the ridge between the shoulders, and weigh up to roughly 648 kg; bulls reach about 145 cm and 948 kg. The fullblood coat is grey-white, carrying plenty of black hair about the head, especially the eyes, and on the neck, shoulders and lower legs. Cows are mostly white, shaded grey or light red. Calves arrive a pale fawn and lighten as they grow. Fullbloods are horned and have black skin on the muzzle, eyelids, ears, tongue, tail tuft, and around the genital and anal openings. Naturalean cattle, which may be crossbred, are solid black or solid red and can be horned or hornless.

Where does the North American Piedmontese come from?

The breed descends from purebred Piedmontese cattle of Piedmont, in north-west Italy, where the parent stock is still kept for beef and for rich milk used in specialty cheese. The Italian breed's own past is debated: Professor Silvano Maletto, using clues in fossils and cave paintings, proposed that old aurochs and zebu cattle from Pakistan both lie behind it. Firm evidence of deliberate breeding appears only in the late 1800s and is credited to another professor, Domenico Vallada. A co-operative in Saskatchewan spent about five years preparing to bring the cattle to North America; Italian breeders were reluctant to sell and health rules were hard to meet. Five animals reached Canada in autumn 1979, at a cost later estimated near $100,000 a head in 2014 values.

What the North American Piedmontese is known for

The defining feature is a naturally occurring mutation: an inactive myostatin allele. Myostatin normally limits muscle growth, so an inactive copy has the reverse effect, giving the heavy build usually called double muscling. Purebred animals carry two copies of that allele. Against ordinary beef breeds these cattle turn feed into lean muscle more efficiently and give a bigger share of the best cuts. Work at the U.S. Meat Animal Research Center found half-blood calves born and weaned at rates close to Hereford and Angus crosses, with average birth weights of 80.2 lb, 92.5% calving without assistance and 91.1% surviving to weaning.

How the North American Piedmontese is bred and kept

Registration hangs on the gene. The North American Piedmontese Association, set up in September 2000 and based in Washington, was the first cattle registry to make the breed's myostatin allele a condition of entry, confirmed by DNA test. Only two-copy animals are registered and breed true; they enter the Fullblood division on pedigree, or the Naturalean division when papers are missing or unverified. One-copy animals are not registered but receive a number marked "recorded". Animals with no copy cannot be entered at all. Fullblood and Naturalean bulls are crossed with Angus and Hereford cows, and semen and embryo imports from the 1990s widened the range of bloodlines.

What the North American Piedmontese is kept for

Meat is the main product. The cattle are raised primarily for beef, and the inactive myostatin gene gives a lean carcass with a high proportion of premium cuts; crossbreds by Angus or Hereford are reported to show roughly 7% more saleable carcass, more protein, less saturated fat and better tenderness. In Italy the parent breed still works as a dual-purpose animal, its very rich milk going into specialty cheeses and its beef sold as a premium product. In the United States, Piedmontese beef comes under USDA rules, and sellers must meet labelling and nutritional verification requirements.

Related breeds and crosses

The parent breed is the Italian Piedmontese, still kept in Piedmont, and the North American population comes from imported purebreds of that line. Breeders often put fullblood and Naturalean bulls to Black Angus or Hereford cows, and in the research station trial the half-blood calves performed much like Hereford and Angus crosses. Belgian Blue, another breed shaped by heavy muscling, is noted alongside it. The Italian breed and the North American one are easily confused, since both are commonly called Piedmontese.

Numbers, conservation and the herd book

The United States holds an estimated 28 to 30 million cattle. Nearly seven in ten beef animals there are of Angus descent, while Piedmontese and Piedmontese-cross cattle make up under half of one percent. Registered pure-blood breeding stock in the United States was put at about 2,900 head in 2014. Two official registries serve the breed in North America, one of them the member-based nonprofit North American Piedmontese Association in Washington. Imports of semen and embryos grew through the 1990s, and breeders now have many bloodlines to draw on.

Questions people ask about North American Piedmontese

Good reading and sources

• North American Piedmontese on WikipediaEncyclopedia
• More photos on Wikimedia CommonsPhotos and video
• Wikidata recordOpen data