any Differences between Piedmontese and Romagnola cattle?

[Nite Hawk]

Howdy!
We have a couple Peidmontese and was wondering if anyone out there had ever dealt with Romagnola cattle, and if so what the
differences are between the Pieds and Romagnola??

 

[Taurus]

One is more common and one is uncommon...that's the difference.

 

[Red Bull Breeder]

Quite a bit of difference in the two breeds. Romagnola are a lot deeper bodied than the peds and from what I have seen a lot bigger cattle.

 

[Nite Hawk]

I have never seen Romagnola cattle, as they are pretty rare. Do they have the same double muscling or are they not as muscled?
Most of the pieds around here are fairly tall big framed cattle, but I think it may be the bloodline, as i have also seen smaller framed, shorter legged pieds too.
Red bull, how big on average do the Romagnola cattle get?
Any idea why they haven't caught on in N. Amercia? Any problems with them?
Or maybe the Assoc hasn't had a good promotion of the breed?
thanks..

 

[Red Bull Breeder]

Only been around one herd of the Rom's Night Hawk. The main herd bull they were running was a big boy. I would think he would have weighed at least 3000 lb's. They are more of a heavy muscled breed like the limousin instead of double muscled. The cows these folks had looked like a Char with a black nose and more grey than white. They ran Rom bulls on angus cows. The cross calves were good.

 

[thommoos]

I though about crossing at one time, This Rom breeder used to be a big time Beefmaster.

http://www.cherokeehills.com

 

[Taurus]

I though about crossing at one time, This Rom breeder used to be a big time Beefmaster.

http://www.cherokeehills.com

They looks nice cattle. Especially RomAngus.....

 

[Nite Hawk]

Are they as heavy boned as the old style Char?
That sound like a pretty big bull on angus cows, wonder if there might be some breeding issues with an animal that big.
Maybe they would be more popular if they were a bit smaller?

 

[Red Bull Breeder]

Good feet and legs under them. They get out and travel good. No problems with breeding or calving that I know off.

 

[Nite Hawk]

Was thinking that with the bulls so big they might break down cows during breeding...

 

[AussieLim]

They are big cattle. Was originally bred as draft bullocks in Italy.

From my experience with them temperament is a problem & of course I believe they are all horned??

 

[Loch Valley Fold]

There is a herd of them near Goulburn NSW we see them every time we travel to Goulburn they are huge& by that I mean tall not overly fat, having said that the paddock they're hasn't any grass & I shudder to think just how much feed they would need to really fatten up

 

[Nite Hawk]

Our pieds are a decent sized frame, although I have seen smaller lines, but they really don't eat much. Sounds like the Romanola could be a real hay burner due to their large size..
We have had other breeds -Angus, Semi, Lemo, hereford and their crosses, and they will stand for hours at the feeder if left there, ( not very "fuel effecient") the pieds eat for a bit then quit and go lay down. It sounds like the Pieds are a better breed to stick with over the Romanola due to their very large size and possible large appetites!

 

[Red Bull Breeder]

You do know that Limousin cattle have proven time after time to do more with a pound of feed than most any breed.

 

[Nite Hawk]

Have had a Limo cross steer here years ago, but don't remember how much he ate, but I do know it seems these Pieds, don't eat much in comparision with the other breeds and crosses. They seem to be very "fuel effecient" if you will. It seems many cattle breeders /farmers, don't seem to take feed effeciency into count,even when feed effeciency is dollars and cents at stake...

 

[CKC1586]

Piedmontese are different from Belgian Blues in that the calves DM does not manifest until after birth (about two weeks or so) so are born pretty much long and slim... There are differences in size/ frame depending on the line you are using. I wanted my girls groceries to be up out of the mud and snow so used a bigger frame for my line. Was very happy with them. Don't eat any more that any other bovine. Southern states the lines are ususally a bit smaller framed. The healthy beef breeds would do fabulous if they had the marketing dollars that the Angus had/have. Good luck in your choices. Fun to choose bulls for next crop. I sure miss my cows!!! :tiphat:

 

[glacierridge]

I would love to see a Rom (in person)
I really like most non mainstream breeds... something different to look at and usually has a certain charm about them.

Then again... I also like Simmys too, which are def a mainstream breed, lol

I do see beauty in almost any breed of bovine.

 

[Nite Hawk]

CKC I would say Pieds ( at least ours) eat quite a bit less that other breeds we have had here, and as we have a long winter-feeding season it can really add up in dollars..
Yes the angus and other breeds have had alot of promotion dollars thrown at them. Lots of oil dollars and ex-USA presidents raised them, so they have gotten lots of publicity...

 

[lms0229]

I raise Romagnola and I am seeing a lot of misconceptions about the breed on this forum; I realize this is an old forum but some may find it useful for later on... They are not double muscled but are similar to a Bazadaise with a heavy beef frame and they are not large boned but of medium to fine bone frame with yields around 67%. For their large frame they excel in feed efficiency and I have an old research study comparing them to the top breeds in the US which includes angus, Herefords and Charolais and they hands down outperformed and ranked number 1 amongst all the breeds. I don't feed my heifer girls grain and they are weighing around 1500 lbs and less than 18 months old in the winter.... as far as disposition... I have been around psycho red angus but that doesn't mean I judge all angus as hard to manage... if you walk into a corral and one looks overly alert and crazy eyed... do all of us and yourself a favor and don't pick that one! Crazy eyes are only good for a freezer and that disposition is not what you want bred into your herd. Keep dogs away from them or you will have problems as I have found most to only tolerate them but instinctively they want to plow dogs into the ground which makes them excellent mothers against predators. I have seen bulls get up to 3400 lbs but your females will be a lot smaller and won't ever get above 1850 lbs. Also... there is a polled strain that most people are unaware of because the lady who developed the polled Romagnola left the Romagnola association years ago and stopped registering her animals completely....but yes most are horned and any you find with their association will all have horned Romagnola. Also they have more marbling than pieds and about a 3/4 will grade choice and do not have adverse marbling effects during crossing with other breeds as their marbling tends to express recessively in favor of the other breeds marbling markers... not saying they don't impact marbling when crosses but if you take most your Indicus cattle and breed to Taurus the affect on marbling is greatly impacted... not so much the case in Romagnola.