Embryos and Donors available Piedmontese Breed




Characteristics

The breed has a good adaptability to breeding in different altitude zones, from the plains to high altitude pastures, which 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 breeder uses the milk for the production of typical cheeses of the region such as tome, castelmagno, raschera.

With the development of agricultural mechanization, the focus has been on favoring the aptitude of the animals for meat production and, starting from the 1960s, on 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.

This peculiar characteristic of the Piedmontese breed called muscular hypertrophy or double rump or Fassone is 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 breed tender and lean and 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 been gradually bred also in other Italian regions and in Italy in 2017 it is the third most bred bovine breed.

In the late 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. In the late 1990s, a project was started for the qualitative and quantitative improvement of beef production in China, as the ability of the Piedmontese breed to improve the final product was now widely recognized in both 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.