What about Piedmontese?

[Farmhand]

Does anyone out there have experience with Piedmontese cows? I'm looking to obtain a couple for my small farm and raise beef for myself and relatives. Too bad I didn't start a couple years ago, prices are crazy right now.

[opus]

Yes, I played with Piedmontese about 15 yrs ago. The ones that survived calving finished better than anything I have ever seen. Calving is tough due to the large hips and shoulders.

Personally, there are too many good mainstream breeds, for one to fuss with these odd breeds.

Just my opinion...and experience.

[myersfarm]

friend of mine had them with big charolois cows...the crosses he bred back to some angus bulls...out of 15 heifers 9 had to be pulled and those were low weight angus bulls he lost 5 of the cows and the calfs were real small like 70 pounds....just no pelvic area for them to come out

[milkstoolcowboy]

I wouldn't want my two foundation beef cows to be Piedmontese, they're not much for mothering and milking. Piedmontese are typically used as a terminal cross on a Hereford or Angus cow. Most Piedmontese are double muscled, so I would expect calving problems, especially on small-framed cows and heifers, although they try to downplay these calving problems. I've seen some results said they had 90%+ unassisted calvings, but if you lose the cow and the calf in calving, what have you gained? Dead calves don't produce a leaner, higher-dressing carcass.

For beef heifers and smaller cows, I'd be careful with many of these exotic breeds: Limousin, Maine Anjou and the worst is Belgian Blue. I had a neighbor who bought a Belgian Blue bull and the first calf crop almost wiped out his cow herd. Even some Charoais bulls can cause trouble with heifers.

Get some Angus cows, Angus x Hereford cross or some Simmi cows and you'll have nice foundation cows for a herd. A Black Baldy cow is a good mother and she'll wean you a real nice calf.

I used to AI all my beef cows and used a lot of exotics in the 1970s, but why chase all around for these exotics, pay more, and then get dinged if you have to sell some feeder calves or fats that aren't black?