An article I have written for NZ Piedmontese Society
Sep 20 2010
CROSSBREEDING WITH PIEDMONTESE CATTLE FOR
SUPERIOR BEEF
Colin Brown
14th October, 2010
Piedmontese cattle are a unique breed. Their mutated myostatin gene is different to other double muscled breeds. The gene provides meat that is exceptionally tender, and also very healthy, low in cholestrol and high is essential fatty acids
In their purebred form, Piedmontese cattle produce meat that is so exceptionally lean, it has almost zero fat cover, and very little marbling. Whilst that’s great for very health conscious meat eaters, its not necessarily what the average beef consumer is looking for. This exceptional leaness is expressed so dramatically because pure Piedmontese cattle have two copies of this naturally mutated myostatin gene. When Piedmontese are crossed with another beef breed, the resulting offspring have one copy of the gene, and the expression is reduced. In my opinion, a crossbred “single copy” animal produces the better carcass, from a beef perspective:
** It provides a significantly superior carcass to the original beef breed it is crossed with because of the extra meat yield and decreased bone mass
** It reduce the fat content, making the beef more healthy, without losing the tastiness.
** It adds tenderness to the cross.
It is important to understand:
Single copy animals produce great beef, and double copy animals do not. From a beef perspective double copy animals should be used for breeding, and single copy animals raised for beef.
With this in mind, its important to understand the genetic consequences of crossing single and double copy animals – how many copies of the unique myostatin gene will be present:
1.Double copy animals, when crossed, will always throw double copy offspring
2.Double copy animals crossed with zero copy animals will always throw offspring with a single copy
3.Double copy animals crossed with single copy animals will throw a double copy 50% of the time and single copy 50% of the time.
4.A single copy animal crossed to a zero copy animal will throw offspring with a single copy 50% of the time, and 50% without a copy.
5.Two single copy animals, when crossed, will throw a double copy animal 25% of the time, and a single copy animal 75% of the time.
Most cattle breeds like to promote their breed as great terminal sires. In the case of Piedmontese, understanding the above genetic consequences means that Piedmontese crossings should very much be looked at terminally, from a beef perspective. Animals crossed with Piedmontese should be killed for beef, unless the crossing is for a composite breeding program. If a Piedmontese cross animal is re-mated to a two copy Piedmontese animal, 50% of the time a double copy offspring will result. If it is mated with another single copy animal – 25% of the time a double copy animal will result. Remember – two copy animals should only be used for breeding – not for beef!
A two copy animal, therefore, does not have to be a pure Piedmontese animal. Some composite breeding programs are producing pure red or pure black stock with 2 copies of this unique gene. It is equally important to understand that animals with 2 copies of this gene will replicate exactly the leanness and tenderness of a pure Piedmontese animal, so powerful is this unique myostatin gene.
So, is there a “best breed” to cross a Piedmontese over? It would be presumptuous to say that only one breed was the best. One of the great attributes of Piedmontese is that they will tenderise any cross, so breeds that are not regarded as providing tender meat still produce tender offspring, when crossed with Piedmontese.
My experience to date has been that European cattle – Simmentals, Limousin etc are quite lean breeds, and when crossed with Piedmontese produce carcasses that could still be regarded as too lean (despite the high yield). I have had Simmental/Piedmontese crossed cattle that have graded Prime, but many have graded Lean and some even with very limited fat. This observation is based purely on grass fed beef. My understanding is that European/Piedmontese crossed animals on American feedlots do provide carcasses with adequate fat balance.
British breeds – Angus/Hereford and Shorthorn etc are breeds that have an abundance of fat (and are sometimes criticised for being too fat). My experience is that these breeds cross well with Piedmontese – to balance the fat content in the meat. Similarly, breeds that are derived from these breeds (such as Murray Grey and Speckled Park) also supply adequate fat to provide a good balance.
Hybrid vigour (heretosis) is a phenomenon that occurs when two different breeds are crossed. As there is no inbreeding limitations, the resulting offspring are normally larger than their parents. This phenonenon is reduced when animals are crossed many times.
My opinion (and I stress it is only mine) is that a single crossed animal with British parentage (such as Angus/Hereford), when crossed with Piedmontese will provide a carcass with a nice fat balance and also takes advantage of hybrid vigour.
In my breeding program, my desire is to have a mix of females:
Zero Copy females
Pure Angus
Angus/Hereford
Angus/Hereford/Fresian (Hereford/Fresian crossed with Angus). By introducing Fresian the hope is to provide more milk supply to help grow the offspring.
Double Copy females
Pure Piedmontese (The idea is to experiment with zero copy breeds such as Speckled Park and Red Poll).
Angus/Piedmontese (to cross with Angus)