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Piedmontese Beef Breed
Now that the U.S. has declared war on fat, many breeds are suddenly making claims of having the leanest meat. But breeders of Piedmontese, a striking "double-muscled" beef breed from Italy, not only make that claim, we have the research to back it up. The breed first came to the U.S. in 1982 from Canada. There are stil
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Piedmontese Beef Breed LIVESTOCK Beef 16-5-30 Now that the U.S. has declared war on fat, many breeds are suddenly making claims of having the leanest meat. But breeders of Piedmontese, a striking "double-muscled" beef breed from Italy, not only make that claim, we have the research to back it up. The breed first came to the U.S. in 1982 from Canada. There are still only a few hundred purebred animals in the U.S.
The Italian beef industry never wanted this breed to get out of Italy in the first place because it's so unique. No more new animals will be getting out of Italy in the near future since European countries have been plagued with mad cow disease so demand is high for the animals we already have. Currently full-blood females sell for between $10,000 and $25,000, depending on age and pedigree while bulls sell for between $4,000 and $7,000. Frozen embryos sell for $1,500.
The U.S.D.A. Meat Animal Research Center (MARC) in Clay Center, Neb., recently conducted a mufti-year study corn-paring 11 different breeds, induding Here-ford and Angus crosses, Shorthorns, Charolais, Longhorns and others. The published results ranked Piedmont cattle first in most categories, including tenderness, natural leanness, ribeye size, and dressing percentage.
Piedmont calves are born with small heads and narrow bodies, making for easy calving. They don't start their heavy-muscling until 3 weeks after birth. The double-muscling increases the amount of red meat on the carcass, producing a product that is actually lower in cholesterol than pork, thicken and even some kinds of fish. Dressing percent-age averages 72%, versus about 63% for most breeds.
It makes an excellent animal for cross-breeding since it readily passes along its best characteristics with just one cross, including double-muscling and high feed conversion. The breed has been extensively tested at Colorado State University. More information is available from the Piedmontese Association of the United States (P.O. Box 300284, Kansas City, Mo. 64130 ph 512 437-2348). (Wayne Schiabach, 9445 James Rd., Fredericksburg, Ohio 44627 ph 216 263-3036)
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