.... Don Buchanan, President of the Piedmontese Society of New Zealand, gave a detailed commentary on the bull, complimenting him on his length, capacity and muscling. Mr. Buchanan was especially interested in the animal’s ability to move out and walk. In New Zealand’s hills, it is crucial that a breeding bull be free moving.
Lawrence Soukup, noted fullblood breeder of South Dakota, remarked that this Naturalean bull was very long bodied with good muscling but perhaps not as tall as he would personally like (for a maternal program). Keeping udders up higher for ease of nursing and to keep udders cleaner (for disease prevention) were important points to consider, according to Lawrence.
Dr. Duane Wulf, Meat Animal specialist from the South Dakota State University, commented on how encouraging it was for him to see the impressive muscling in these Piedmontese cattle.
(These are only highlights of the comments that were made. Various questions were presented by the crowd and everyone enjoyed hearing from cattlemen from such different parts of the world speaking about what would be workable or advantageous in their situations.)

Lake View Colony presented a wonderful evening meal, with Piedmontese beef and more beautiful singing as accompaniment. The group then moved over to the large meeting hall for the special presentation by Dr. Duane Wulf on the importance of Muscle and Yield in the beef industry today. Dr. Wulf gave an hour long in-depth account of research studies and market analyses on “what affects beef carcass value”. Cutability, rib-eye size, marbling and meat quality were reviewed – and all indications are that Yield will be having an ever larger effect on the commodity beef pay scale with case-ready beef.
From a genetic stand point, muscling determines cutability and it is possible to have both marbling and muscling at the same time ! Ralph Peterson confirmed that the Montana Ranch Brand program is proving this every day. Dr. Wulf indicated that a yearling bull rib-eye scan is very similar to a market steer – and the goal should be a minimum of 14.1 inches at a 775 carcass weight. To achieve this, using a terminal cross sire on British-breed cows, you will need to use a bull with at least a 15.9 in rib-eye as a yearling. Dr. Wulf circulated hand-out material with support information from his report, and the many commercial cattlemen present came away with hard data to back-up what they had seen and heard through the day about the value of crossing with Piedmontese.

Don Buchanan of New Zealand explained their Steak of Origin competition, held annually and open to all breeds of beef cattle in a variety of classes. Don has had steaks from his Piedmontese-crosses among the finalists every year ! Some 300 entries each year are evaluated for tenderness, ph-levels and taste, so it is an extremely valuable promotional event for beef producers in New Zealand.

Vicki Johnson presented the NAPA “Road Map to the Future”. This report was a summary of the current status of the breed in North America, with low numbers of homozygous seed stock and ever increasing demand for commercial bulls due to the work of the branded beef companies. Estimates are that some 10 – 12,000 head of crossbred Piedmontese slaughter animals will move through the Montana Ranch Brand program in 2008. This number needs to grow by at least 5000 head per year in order to meet the demand for the beef product. The need to increase production of good workable commercial bulls is obvious. Breeders need to work together and network in regions to produce as many good performance crossbred cattle as possible for the branded beef companies. (The complete report is available from NAPA).

Ralph Peterson closed the evening with a brief summary of the day and encouragement for all seed stock and commercial breeders that Montana Ranch Brand’s branded Piedmontese product continues to expand into new markets because of the true excellence of the beef. Their ‘Marbling & Muscle’ all natural program is moving ahead at a rapid pace and they look forward to working with producers across North America to ensure a profitable future for all.

June 7, 2008 – the Field Days continued at Soukup Livestock near Lake Andes, SD. Master breeder, Lawrence Soukup, with his son Roger and his brother Fred have been breeding fullblood Piedmontese for more than 20 years.
The Soukup program has been one of rigid culling for performance and workability in the cattle. Cows are mated to non-Piedmontese sires for their first calf or two, and if the heifers do not calve well or do not milk well, they are culled. If they perform up to the Soukups standards, then they are mated to fullblood Piedmontese sires, and again, if they do not calve well or raise a good calf, they are culled from the herd.
The result of this program provided us all with a truly excellent group of seed stock animals to enjoy on June 7th ! Some 65 cow-calf pairs and 20 yearling heifers were on display, and were also available for sale by Private Treaty. The Soukup family plans to reduce the herd size, due to family health issues, and wanted to make their animals available first to other Piedmontese breeders. So, a very relaxed private treaty bidding system was used on June 7 to allow breeders the opportunity to select and purchase stock. This private treaty sale will continue, and for further information please contact Lawrence or Roger Soukup.
A very enjoyable lunch, including home raised Piedmontese beef, was presented by the Soukup family. We all sat comfortably in the shade of a huge mossy tree beside the ranch house.
Jeff Russo of Laura’s Lean Beef gave a report on his long term relationship with the Soukup family and on the quality of their commercial Piedmontese stock marketed through Laura’s Lean. The majority of the commercial crosses produced by the Soukups are Piedmontese crossed with Charolais. These cattle have consistently placed the Soukups in the “Top Producer” categories for yield through the LLB grid. Jeff noted that it is a remarkable achievement to have a producer always in the top 5 or 10, year after year. The Soukups have done this, usually in the top 3 of the LLB producers across the entire country.

Special guests, Dr. Pistone and Dr. Quaglino of the Italian Association then presented their evaluations of a mature fullblood bull and a fullblood first calf heifer from the Soukup’s breeding program. Dr. Pistone thanked the Soukups for the opportunity to appraise such good quality animals. He felt that this fullblood bull was slightly down in body condition and appreciated that the bull had been used for pasture breeding this spring. However, with some condition he felt that this bull would be very competitive at the Italian National Show. He complimented the animal on his size and length, with excellent muscle pattern through-out. Even though they did not touch the bull, it was apparent that the skin was fine because all of the muscle groups were easily seen under the hide. They noted that the bull was very correct in his feet and legs and travelled well, with good bone. When appraising the first-calf heifer, Dr. Pistone was very impressed by the growth of the animal and her excellent udder. He would have preferred to see a fullblood calf at her side, rather than a crossbred calf. At 27 months old, the heifer weighed approximately 1450 lbs with a full udder and a large growthy calf nursing her; her muscling was smooth and full and she was working very well, with outstanding growth and performance. Dr. Pistone also remarked about the quiet disposition of the female. In summary, he said there was really no way to be critical of any aspect of the bull or the female, in his opinion !
Dr. Quaglino, General Manager of ANABORAPI, gave a report on the programs in Italy focused on breed improvement. The Italian Bull Test was explained in detail, so that breeders would understand the long term vision behind the process. Bull calves are brought into the Test Center at a very young age (1 – 3 months old) and are given milk replacer supplements and identical rations in order to have all of the bulls in exactly the same production model before they start the official testing program. As the bulls reach 4 months of age, they move to a growing ration (with each animal’s exact daily feed intake measured) and regular weighs and measures are recorded. The best bulls are identified through the performance test, then move on to progeny evaluations. 15 select bull calves a month enter the Test Center and growth is evaluated over a 7 month period. Of the 200+ bulls per year that move through the performance test, only about 30-35 bulls will be approved to go onward as AI Sires after the physical criteria are met (libido and semen quality, and morphological exam by experts in the breed). A small amount of semen of each bull is distributed in the farms for the progeny testing program. The final stage of selection takes place after the birth of 90 offspring for each bull. Genetic evaluations are performed based on progeny test records and only the top 8% of all A.I. bulls for the Breeding index or the Meat Index are definitely selected for A.I.
Several questions were raised about why ANABORAPI only produces a small amount of semen on the approved bulls and then slaughters them. Dr. Quaglino explained that this decision is due mainly to the need to encourage genetic diversity in the breed, so that breeders do not simply use one proven sire excessively. (Readers may recall articles in this magazine which discuss the loss of bloodline diversity in numerous breeds of cattle in the world today; as an example, the Holstein breed currently estimates that they have only 14 different pedigree lines available in the world, due mainly to excessive use of top ranked AI bulls.) ANABORAPI has recognized that, because the Piedmontese numbers are low and genetic diversity must be maintained, their planned matings and selection process will ensure this type of problem can be avoided.

Guests enjoyed the warm afternoon, visiting with each other and inspecting the Soukup breeding herd. Conversations were lively, as there had been a great deal of new information and insights given – for both commercial and seed stock producers.
Many gathered again in the evening for a delicious crab buffet at the local casino, and then made their final farewells.

In summary, the Field Days were a huge success thanks to the warm hospitality and quality of cattle presented by Lake View Piedmontese and Soukup Livestock. One breeder emailed me right after the event to say “It was easy to learn at this event. One just had to listen as there were so many there that know so much about the Piedmontese breed. It was special.”
Personally, I enjoyed the fact that so many cattlemen, with completely different needs and wants for their respective areas and countries, all came together to share their common belief in the Piedmontese breed. Commercial cattlemen new to the breed learned in short order that these cattle will absolutely help them to achieve their goals, whether with British or continental crosses. Breeders learned that, even though their own programs may differ slightly from each other, there are Piedmontese cattle that will suit their needs perfectly.
NAPA extends our sincere Thank You to: Dr. Quaglino and Dr. Pistone of ANABORAPI for their participation in our NAPA Field Days, and we extend their warm invitation to attend the Italian National Show in November to all our Piedmontese breeders !
Thanks also to Don Buchanan of New Zealand for his informative comments during the animal evaluations and for presenting his report on the Steak of Origin competition in New Zealand.
We congratulate him on his successes there !

Vicki Johnson - Exec. Director, NAPA