The Piemontese cattle breed is a beef breed of medium size that converts forage very well into beef and has a high dressing out percentage. The quantity of commercial cuts is higher than that of bigger-sized breeds. It has very fine bones, a fine and elastic skin, a low quantity of external fat and lean and tender, but tasty meat. The bulls have a grey or pale fawn coat, with black hairs on the head (especially around the eye sockets), on the neck, the shoulders, the distal regions of the limbs and sometimes on the lateral faces of the body and the hind limbs. The cows have a white or pale fawn coat with shades of grey or pale fawn. At birth the coat of the calves is of a deep pale fawn colour. The tongue, the palate and the external mucosae are black. The cows are of a medium size (550-600 kg), at birth the calves weigh on average from 40 to 45 kg. The male fattening calves are ready for slaughtering at a weight of 550-650 kg when they are about 15-18 month old, the females at about 350-450 kg when they are about 14-16 months old. 1 / 5
Despite their size, the weight gain of Piemontese cattle is high, reaching 1.4 kg a day in the calves between weaning and slaughtering, when feeding and environmental conditions are optimal. The indices of the food conversion are extremely high and confer to the Piemontese a feeding efficiency which is definitely superior to all the other beef breeds. The dressing out percentage is very high, on average 67-68% in the fattening calves, with peaks of 72%, thanks to the extremely fine bones and the low quantity of external fat. The conformation of the carcasses is excellent: they are always classified S and E of the S-EUROP classification. The milk production of the Piemontese is sufficient to suckle the calf; this as a consequence of the double-purpose selection applied on the breed in the past. Some of the Piemontese breeders use the milk for cheese production. The cheeses "Castelmagno", "Bra", "Raschera" and many of the "Tome" coming from the valleys of the region Piemonte are produced with Piemontese milk. Double muscle factor The particular characteristic of the Piemontese cattle breed is the muscular hypertrophy, better known as the 'double muscle factor'. The double muscle factor appeared at the beginning of last century and spread progressively over the breed up to a point in which nearly all the Herd-book animals possess this characteristic and a very high percentage of the breed as a whole. From a genetic point of view, the double muscle factor has always been considered a natural mutation which can occur in living organs, even if the probability is very low. The spreading of the 'double muscle' over the breed was originally possible thanks to the selection carried out by the breeders and later this has been carried on by ANABORAPI. In recent times the techniques of the molecular genetics have made it possible to verify which is the gene in question and which type of mutation has taken place. It was discovered that the mutation interests the gene of the myostatin located on chromosome 2 and that the mutation which has taken place in the Piemontese breed is different from the ones of other breeds. 2 / 5
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