Romagnola VS Aubrac
- Thread starter lms0229
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I've been on this forum since 2011 and don't recall any discussions about Romagnola cattle. We had a guy on here for a few years who was into Aubracs. Walnutcrest I think.
Both are fairly obscure breeds.
Both are fairly obscure breeds.
I just ran a search on Romagnola and got more hits than I expected. Use the search function and see what you can find.
The Aubrac and the Ramagnola are two beef breeds used for completely different reasons. The Aubrac is considered by the Fench to be a 'rustic' beef breed, used in rough, hilly terrain as a tough, low input cow herd to be used with a Charolais bull. They remind me of a beefer Tarentaise with similar fertility udder improvement, and good feet. Growth is similar to a Tarentaise. The calves can have white muzzles, dark eye patches, and black guard hair when crossed with British Breeds. The French consider them to be something like a Galloway or like a ranch type Angus.
The Romagnola is by contrast an Italian Breed that is best used as a terminal cross.They in no way can complete in the maternal or hardiness traits with the Aubrac. They are the shortest and blockiest of the Italian Breeds. They can be very plain cattle with big heads, course confirmation, and plenty of leather on the front ends. They are the third most popular breed in Italy behind the Marchigiana and Chianina respectively. The Marchigiana is light years ahead of the Romagnola for any maternal trait you care to mention and is also better growing. Along with the other Italian Breeds such as the Chianina, they have Shorthorn level problems with genetic defects. When they click with a cow herd they work very well. If you want to use a Romagnola I would also use a some Marchigiana to see what works best. If you intend to keep replacements I would use Marchigiana out of all the Italian breeds.
Aubrac semen or cattle will be much easier to get than the Romagnola or Marchigiana. I think a small association exists for both Italian breeds but will require you to do some diggubg to get semen let alone a bull.
The Romagnola is by contrast an Italian Breed that is best used as a terminal cross.They in no way can complete in the maternal or hardiness traits with the Aubrac. They are the shortest and blockiest of the Italian Breeds. They can be very plain cattle with big heads, course confirmation, and plenty of leather on the front ends. They are the third most popular breed in Italy behind the Marchigiana and Chianina respectively. The Marchigiana is light years ahead of the Romagnola for any maternal trait you care to mention and is also better growing. Along with the other Italian Breeds such as the Chianina, they have Shorthorn level problems with genetic defects. When they click with a cow herd they work very well. If you want to use a Romagnola I would also use a some Marchigiana to see what works best. If you intend to keep replacements I would use Marchigiana out of all the Italian breeds.
Aubrac semen or cattle will be much easier to get than the Romagnola or Marchigiana. I think a small association exists for both Italian breeds but will require you to do some diggubg to get semen let alone a bull.
MarkH said:
Today I learned!
sstterry said:
Ditto
Thank you for the replies. I have Romagnola and I have been very happy with them. I'm using them in a development program, but I hadnt raised Aubrac and I was curious for a comparison. I would say that with the Romagnola that they add vigor, conformation especially in feet and legs, with very slender bodied calves. They are excellent foragers and hardy in both hot and cold climates. I was surprised at how much milk they make... its more than i had expected. I am still playing around with them on crossing with various breeds and I agree that they must be paired correctly. I will try to upload a picture of one of my fullblood cows compared to a Romagnola X Jersey cross heifer.
Something I forgot to mention is that both the Aubrac and the Romagnola (along with the rest of the Italian Breeds) have good heat tolerance and are very resostant to sun burn with both brreds having black skin. The Aubrac is alos supposed to be reistaant to insects such as the TSE fly. For this reason it would be intereting to see how well both breeds would due in brahman influence herds.
Just one qqquestion: Where do you get new breeding stock? Have you been to Italy abd seen thr various brreds and how thye are used there?
Just one qqquestion: Where do you get new breeding stock? Have you been to Italy abd seen thr various brreds and how thye are used there?
I got mine from a friend before she passed away. She use to always win the Romagnola shows back in the 70s with her heifers and cows but the gentleman who originally imported Romagnola always won the bull division. I ended up with her females and the gentleman's bull semen. I think there is a breeder or 2 in Tennessee. I have chatted some with the head of ANABIC for Italy but never been in person to see them used. Would be really neat to see someday though for sure. Im not really a big Brahma fan personally, just not my thing. I can confirm that Romagnola definitely have fly and tick resistance.
MarkH and IMS0229, you guys are awesome, you both joined in 2017 yet hardly post. Please participate more often.
lms0229 said:
Sometimes we talk about cattle but mostly we bicker. :cboy:
Angus, mostly black but some red and a small herd of Hereford.
Rafter S
Well-known member
lms0229 said:
There was an outfit that had Romagnolas for decades just outside Navasota, TX, on the west side close to the river, but I don't know if they still do or not.
Rafter S he still has an operation and he was the original importer of Romagnola into the US. He would win all the bull shows so I bought semen from what he considered his very best bulls, but I'm not sure how active he is with it anymore but he has an impressive operation nonetheless. I do know he won't sell fullblood females...I have asked. Lol. His bulls don't even seem real in-person.... first time I saw one it looked like some mechanical dinosaur from a movie...not even real looking. The back of its neck had to be about 2 feet across. The bull was roughly 3200# after breeding season.
5S Cattle
Well-known member
Rafter S said:
Sure don't look like they do much over there
