Blues/ Blondes/Piedmontese

[KANSAS]

Just out curiousity I continually hear people say "why are you mad at your cattle?/Are you trying to kill your cattle" etc, etc, etc.... when people ask about breeding to a double muscled bull. My question (atleast in regards to the piedmontese) is WHY?

Have you ever seen a piedmontese newborn calf? They are the longest skinniest little things. Come out, although weighing a bit more, looking like a longhorn calf. They dont develop the double muscling until a few weeks after they are born.

 

[glover36]

i am a really big fan on blondes here we have this amazing limo/blondee my brother showed won every class she was in breed her charolias her steers fetch top dollar

 

[KANSAS]

I have not used Pied's before, but I have looked into them extensively. I have longhorns and was looking into crossing them with Pied's to give the cross calves some more muscle. I have been looking to purchase a Pied I can use on my longhorn heifers, but have found great difficulty finding one in my area that meets my requirements.
However, I have seen the newborn calves, and they are little.

 

[KANSAS]

Guest,
If you know of anyone in my area (Northeast or Southeast Kansas) that you could recommend let me know. Also, if you know of anyone that would let me lease a bull to try out on a few heifers let me know.

Thanks...

 

[sjr725]

I'm very excited and curious, last spring we ai'd 10 of our good commercial cows with Pied semen - can't wait to see the calves. We are running 370 head of commercial cross bred cows - I've kept back 60 really exceptional heifers this year. Most of the cows are herf x about 1/2 bwf and some simm x and we have been using simm & charlois bulls the last few years and have been having really nice calf crops. But I sorta got a wild hair when I saw some peid bulls and cows at the Stampede in Calgary a few year ago and am curious how they will cross on good commercial grade cows. I too was leary about the size of the bull - so I selected 10 of the bigger, older cows for this little experiment - we'll have to wait and see - they'll start calving around Feb 1st. Just as an aside... we AI'd ten head and all ten caught the first round - we've tried AI before and never had that kind of success rate! Maybe these big fellas really want to make babies!

 

[CKC1586]

Montana Range markets Piedmontese beef and offer premiums and it is my understanding they will pick up your Pied influenced cattle, they have a website http://www.montanarange.com. There is also Montana Ranch that did a presentation in Tennessee that indicate the same, http://www.montanaranchbrand.com.
Best wishes for a safe, healthy and prosperous calving of your Piedmontese influenced cattle!

 

[sjr725]

Thanks CKC
I'm really excited to see what they come out like - my hubby is worried that they'll be an odd color and that will affect sale - I tell him we already cross with a charlois bull so we get a fair share of buff or chocolate calves and it never bothers anybody. But you know what the markets are like? I have been in contact with Montana Range just for info and will contact them again when the calves hit the ground and we get to see what they are like. All of our cows are very docile and easy to handle so these should be too. As I said I selected 10 older bigger cows until I see what the birthweights are - these mamas could pop out a tank without breaking a sweat so I'm not anticipating calving problems although you never know
thanks again for your info.
SJR

 

[CKC1586]

Our cows that are red usaually have a lighter red/rusty colored calf. Our neighbor used a Pied bull on a couple of his Angus and the black cows usually have a chocolate colored calf, they look black when born but fade over time. One little guy this year looks like a Murray Grey! My brother has a guy that comes up from Indiana and takes all his Pied influenced calves that he will part with. He has quite a mix Hereford, Charloias cross and Simmental cows that he uses for Recipient cows and then the Pied bull cleans up.

 

[sjr725]

Most of our cows are herf X, bwf and a few simm x, I have quite a few replacement heifers by our good charlois bulls - but this will be the last year we'll be using that bull and the simmx bull, we just bought 5 new herf bulls last year but are looking for a few more for the 2008 breeding season - so if these peid calves look good I may try to buy a couple of bulls this coming summer. We used AI this year for the few we picked out but have not had great success in the past - my bulls have always done a better job! But like everyone else, we're just trying to try whatever we can to get the most profit from our calves. We brought our cows in from the mountains last week and boy they all look great - we've sold all the 2006 calves (contracted) and they'll be shipping about mid november except for the heifers I'm keeping. So we'll just wait to see what February holds.

 

[Susie David]

Great to read your posts. We've been talking about AI this next spring and using Pied semen. I will be curious to see pics of the calves and speak with you about the calving. Figured we'd do a dozen, 6 angus, 2 lim, 2 herf, and 2 baldies and see what we get.
We don't care about color as our cows leave the farm naked and in a cold truck; but we are looking to improve the carcas yield and meat quality.
Any pics of Pied cows and calves?
Thanks....Dave Mc

 

[sjr725]

I'll be glad to post pics as soon as the little buggers arrive - should be early Feb. I'm anxious too. As I mentioned, we've contracted our calves the past 8-9 years to the same buyer and he's excited about this cross too - since he feedlots them we'll get a good idea of the progress compared to the other calves - I may keep a heifer or 2 out of this first batch but I'm really interested in how the steers finish out and carcass grades.

 

[S.R.R.]

Great to read your posts. We've been talking about AI this next spring and using Pied semen. I will be curious to see pics of the calves and speak with you about the calving. Figured we'd do a dozen, 6 angus, 2 lim, 2 herf, and 2 baldies and see what we get.
We don't care about color as our cows leave the farm naked and in a cold truck; but we are looking to improve the carcas yield and meat quality.
Any pics of Pied cows and calves?
Thanks....Dave Mc

Sounds interesting, just remember to tell the folks that buy the meat from your Pied/Lim calves that it is best boiled or roasted. If they were to put it on the BBQ they would have a very poor eating experience. Something that was stressed to us when visiting the Pied testing center was that you never BBQ a pure Pied steak and that if you are looking for meat that can be pan fried or BBQ ed do not breed a Pied bull to another lean breed but rather one of the breeds that have a fair amount marbling in their meat.( they named a number of your more common british breeds) Just a heads up, and good luck with the experiment!

 

[Susie David]

Thanks for the tip...think that we'll scratch the Lims off the list.
Didn't even think about the lean factor with both breeds.
DMc

 

[CKC1586]

[/quote] Sounds interesting, just remember to tell the folks that buy the meat from your Pied/Lim calves that it is best boiled or roasted. If they were to put it on the BBQ they would have a very poor eating experience. Something that was stressed to us when visiting the Pied testing center was that you never BBQ a pure Pied steak and that if you are looking for meat that can be pan fried or BBQ ed do not breed a Pied bull to another lean breed but rather one of the breeds that have a fair amount marbling in their meat.( they named a number of your more common british breeds) Just a heads up, and good luck with the experiment![/quote]

Oh gosh, I couldn't disagree more on the cooking of the Piedmontese beef! The thing you do need to remember is that your cooking time needs to be cut nearly in half. I like my steak rare and grilled, usually don't thaw it but put it on the grill for about 4 to 5 min. each side. Rub it with olive oil, salt pepper and garlic salt and yum. Your roasts will cook faster so be careful not to overcook or it will get dry. We even do the round steaks on the grill and they are great. I have pan fried steaks but prefer them on the grill. One good recipe tho is to put about a tablespoon of olive oil in a frying pan season your steak (monteray seasoning is good, or some fresh garlic and rosemary but good ol salt and pepper is great too) sear it on both sides for about a minute then put the pan in a preheated 375 oven for about 10 to 15 minutes depending on how done you like it. The hamburger is awesome but I usually oil my pan or if grilling them rub a little olive oil on the patties. The thing with the Piedmontese is that the double copy myostatin gene gives you lean and TENDER beef.

 

[KANSAS]

CKC....

I spoke with the Piedmontese Association and they said a Piedmontese breeder in Michigan used a pied bull on longhorn cows. Do you know who they were talking about? I would like to find out how the calves turned out...

 

[Susie David]

The tenderness factor along with the high yield is what I'm looking to bring into our operation.
Our butcher is a big fan of the Pieds and has suggested them as a way of increasing yield while maintaining the quality of the beef. We have somewhat of a good customer base that grows each slaughter so we need to maintain our quality and give the customer more beef for the buck.
Thinking the angus and herfs to breed to...any comments on the baldies, have a couple that throw big, well muscled calves.
Thanks...DMc

 

[S.R.R.]

The tenderness factor along with the high yield is what I'm looking to bring into our operation.
Our butcher is a big fan of the Pieds and has suggested them as a way of increasing yield while maintaining the quality of the beef. We have somewhat of a good customer base that grows each slaughter so we need to maintain our quality and give the customer more beef for the buck.
Thinking the angus and herfs to breed to...any comments on the baldies, have a couple that throw big, well muscled calves.
Thanks...DMc

You are on the right track!! Please take the time to call or e-mail the http://www.anaborapi.it and ask for their sire AI catalogue. If nothing else it will give you one heck of a good idea on what is avalible out there. Keep in mind that they are very keen on helping people outside of Italy to use their AI bulls so the cost of semen is low.

 

[CKC1586]

CKC....

I spoke with the Piedmontese Association and they said a Piedmontese breeder in Michigan used a pied bull on longhorn cows. Do you know who they were talking about? I would like to find out how the calves turned out...

Yup, I will pm you with his name, if you want to contact him.