Any Piedmontese breeders here?

[Ben H]

I've been working with a family in the area that is starting a Pied herd, just curious if there is anyone here with experience working with these animals. I got connected when my Vet called to ask if I could help, 5 escaped when the trucker was unloading and I have the tranquilizer gun.

 

[Whitewing]

:shock:

 

[Denny]

I kow some guys who got into them. After dead cows and c-sections the bulls were all sold.Dead calves and cows were'nt worth the hype.

 

[Big Muddy rancher]

There used to be a Pied outfit near where Randi lives. They never caught on very big in this area.They even tried bucking some at Wood Mountain but they had been in a feedlot and when they buck some of them broke legs so that didn't work out so good. :?

 

[Northern Rancher]

It's funny how 'wild' breeds of cattle don't often make consistently good bucking bulls- the odd Limousin or Charolais but I've never seen a Saler crack out. We bucked a few EXT heifers in the practice pen but they're pretty counterfeit. The best bull we've raised was half Jersey and he was a rank SOB-21-22 point bull and hooky.

 

[greybeard]

Leachman's tried very hard to develop them as a Grass-fed tender beef program.
The fellow that was doing the genetic pairings to develop the program described them as having one of the poorest gene pools in any breed of cattle. Other than the tenderness gene, not much good there.
Many assisted births with calves that lay there trying to die.

 

[Northern Rancher]

I was at Leachman's sale the year he peddled them-god they were terrible footed suckers!

 

[canadian angus]

The yearling cattle were bigger than the age Piedmonsters.

CA

 

[Ben H]

I talked to the local folks about the calving issue which was a concern I had. Somewhere I read that the calves don't start developing the double muscling until a few months after birth. They were told by the breeder they purchased this group from that she didn't notice any more difficulty then her former Angus/Hereford herd. The thing I was kind of impressed with was the claimed dressing percentage and retail yield. They do however kind of go against the grain of the market I'm trying to hit, grass fat. All the health benefits in grassfed are in the fat, the pieds are ultra lean, but tender. It will be interesting to see the market response.

 

[Denny]

I talked to the local folks about the calving issue which was a concern I had. Somewhere I read that the calves don't start developing the double muscling until a few months after birth. They were told by the breeder they purchased this group from that she didn't notice any more difficulty then her former Angus/Hereford herd. The thing I was kind of impressed with was the claimed dressing percentage and retail yield. They do however kind of go against the grain of the market I'm trying to hit, grass fat. All the health benefits in grassfed are in the fat, the pieds are ultra lean, but tender. It will be interesting to see the market response.

Yeah and someone talked my uncle into raiseing Scottish Highlanders dispering good angus cows to do it. Was'nt but a few years and he went broke.You always need to price your cattle at salebarn prices.Black calves selling yesterday here 555# steers 1.41 per lb odd colored calves $1.10 highlanders 60 cents.

Also the guys telling you how great it is are full of it I had some Piedmont steaks given to me they were about the same as a store bought steak but had no flavor they can be as tender but without flavor why eat it tofu is tender also.

My uncle had his highlanders processed at a usda inspected shop so he could sell the meat I know the only thing that sold well was burger and polish sausage.3 to 4 years from birth to slaughter where's the profit in that.

 

[piedmontese]

i raise registered pieds and reg salers.the pieds have come a long way since they were first introduced to the u.s. i have not noticed anymore birthing trouble with pied cows than any other breed,excluding salers.do not breed pied heifers to pied bulls.i bought bred pied heifers that were bred to a pied bull and we pulled a few and lost a few.the pieds grow a little slower than some other breeds but they for sure finish alot higher at butcher time.the best bull to put on a pied heifer in my opinion is a saler.i have nevr pulled a saler sired calf from a heifer or cow.salers r more hardy and easier doing than pieds.i hear talk of how wild salers are but i have not seen it myself,again the saler breed is not that old in the u.s. and as with any new breed not enough culling is done.it is a fact that a saler female has a bigger pelvic region than any other breed.

 

[Ben H]

I'll have to find out who the sire was on the ones that escaped. They got pretty wild, but have since settled down. It's going to be interesting seeing how this breed performs here. One thing I noticed with some of them is that it seems like they were a bit tall, a lot of space between the belly and the ground. Is that typical of the breed?

 

[Anonymous]

I kow some guys who got into them. After dead cows and c-sections the bulls were all sold.Dead calves and cows were'nt worth the hype.

That pretty well sums up my whole experience with the Continental breeds kick..... IF the cow could have them- if the sun wasn't shining the right way on them they layed there and died anyway... :roll: :wink:

 

[piedmontese]

I'll have to find out who the sire was on the ones that escaped. They got pretty wild, but have since settled down. It's going to be interesting seeing how this breed performs here. One thing I noticed with some of them is that it seems like they were a bit tall, a lot of space between the belly and the ground. Is that typical of the breed?

a few of mine r a little taller than i would ideally like but most r normal height.

 

[piedmontese]

the last pied that i had butchered was a heifer that did'nt breed.i don't know what her live weight was but her hanging weight was 690lbs and i took home 534lbs of de-boned beef.i know that those of u that r not familiar with pieds will doubt this but its the truth.i have never had a pied that did'nt finish out at least 70% from hanging to finish.the meat is more tender than any other and delicious and healthy.she was all grass and hay finished.

 

[Faster horses]

Without mentioning names, I know a rancher that was into the Pied deal
pretty deep...partnering on the cattle and keeping them to finish...and it
didn't work out. He won't hardly talk about it now and at one point he
was making regular trips to SD to take care of business. He was
pretty enthused to begin with. So I guess I'd just say, "be careful."
There is a reason those cattle aren't popular across ranching country.

 

[Ben H]

The folks who bought them have been buying in Piedmontese meat for their restaurant, they marketed the difference in fat and tenderness and it sold like crazy. I don't personally have much interest in getting into them, I want animals to get fat on grass as that is where the good fats are. British breeds are best for what I'm doing. However, I am interested in seeing how these animals perform. Like any "different" breed it's tough dealing with a smaller genetic pool.

 

[PureCountry]

the meat is more tender than any other and delicious and healthy.she was all grass and hay finished.

How do you know it is healthy?

 

[flyingS]

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.

 

[PATB]

Ben

I hope the owners of the pieds have there market already set up IE custom beef because they will take a beating any other way. The only reason to have pieds in maine is you want to show them with very little competition. Angus and herdford are much better suited for this climate unless you like highlanders and there horns .