I would be pretty leary of the Pieds. I worked for a company that is one of the largest Pied breeders in the nation. To sum it up, conception rates using pied bulls were very poor unless the cows were AI'd. The ranches that had March born calves said the calves were not very vigorous. You have to remember that the Pied's have always been a small scale herd where there was lots of feed and shelter. Most of the cattle in Italy were raised in a pen and always had a barn to go into. There may be cattle out there that are adapted to colder climates, I can tell you I did not have very good luck with Pied bulls a year ago in SD. They are thin hided and a poorer doing breed. Structural correctness and hardiness have a lot to be desired. I did not have any calving problems, calving AngusX cows bred to Pied and PiedX bulls and did not feel that birth weights were any higher in those calves than calves out of AngusXSimmy bulls. I did calve in Aug and Sept., I did not notice any vigour problems. I did help calve Pied hfrs on one of the other ranches last spring. Out of the 6 pure bred hfrs they had they only ended up with 2 live calves and 4 live hfrs. I do not believe any calved unassisted. For what it is worth, I would be beware. There are cattle better suited to be in the beef industry, grass fed or corn fed.