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On June 25 and 26 NAPA members
and Piedmontese enthusiasts gathered in Billings, Montana
for the Annual NAPA Field Days.
On Friday everyone boarded our touring coach and went
to the Montana Ranch Brand office where their friendly
staff served us coffee and pastries. After spending some
time visiting with the MRB folks we rode the bus through
scenic Montana countryside to the Descheemaeker Ranch.
The Descheemaeker family gave an in depth tour of the
ranch. Pat explained their breeding program while we viewed
an impressive group of NaturaLean Piedmontese seedstock.
The cattle really demonstrated the result of the on-going
and highly selective program, where functionality and
performance are the focus. Pat explained the realities
of successfully marketing cattle in his region –
it includes a need to offer polled and solid color convenience
traits for their buyers – but for more than 50 years
their family has also focused on (and gained a positive
reputation for) producing cattle with outstanding carcass
performance traits. Their work with Piedmontese is an
extension of the family’s long term belief in the
importance of producing quality beef. Larry, Gregg, and
Pat then shared some of the colorful and inventive history
of the ranch, a tour through the ranch home to see Pat’s
Montana State record sized black bear (full body mount)
that was shot right on the ranch, followed by a hayride
through the fields to view more NaturaLean cattle.
Billy Swain of Montana Ranch Brand
gave a rousing report on Piedmontese Beef marketing, and
told us all to “build as many good Piedmontese cattle
as you can because we can sell this unique beef product
all day long.”
The hayride ended on a bluff with
awesome panoramic views of the surrounding countryside
and the ranch below. We experienced an incredible evening
on the bluff including, a bonfire, delicious pitchfork
fondue, rainbows after a thunderstorm, and great camaraderie
visiting with friends, topped with fireworks over the
valley below. The magazine front cover shows the view
from the bluff, with the rainbow that ended exactly over
the herd of Piedmontese cattle: the ‘pot of gold’
at the end of the rainbow. It was spectacular ! After
mother nature’s ‘light show’, the evening
was perfect for the huge fireworks display.
Saturday morning everyone boarded
the bus again and headed to the Genex Hawkeye bull stud
station, followed by a MRB Piedmontese burger lunch and
tour at the Midland Bull test station. Leo McDonnell gave
a speech on the bull test and also explained some very
interesting facts about individual animal performance
testing and the new DNA marker tests available for performance
traits. Some companies now offer DNA tests that supposedly
can tell us what performance individual animals have according
to DNA markers for traits, such as gain, marbling, etc.
From his extensive cooperation with various universities
and research facilities he has learned that most of these
tests are not yet very accurate and we must be aware that
the existing tests are based on markers potentially specific
to other breeds. Piedmontese markers are likely organized
very differently from the breeds of which current research
has been done. These types of gene tests could be very
valuable for Piedmontese in the future but we must first
collect our own research data to find accurate markers
specific to our breed. We are very lucky to currently
have the extremely accurate, breed specific, and conclusive
test of the very influential Piedmontese myostatin.
We then rode through more beautiful Montana countryside
and briefly visited the quaint town of Red Lodge (and
stopped at a restaurant that features MRB Piedmontese
Beef on the menu) before returning to the motel for an
evening banquet. We enjoyed more delicious MRB Piedmontese
beef and very unique door prizes. Lyndon Mulligan, President
of the Australian Piedmontese Society, gave an over-view
of their Association’s activities and an interesting
report on the breed in his country. Then, we enjoyed a
presentation from Hiram Lambert, and Cliff Willms about
their bull development program. They have put together
a program to test and sell Fullblood and NaturaLean seedstock
bulls for Piedmontese seedstock producers. After much
planning, the first group of bulls is scheduled to be
received and tested this winter and sold at auction in
April. They hope this program will offer an outlet for
Piedmontese bull producers while providing large enough
groups of bulls to attract commercial cattlemen who require
sizable groups of bulls backed by solid comparative data.
For information call Hi at 308-293-5444.
We had people attend the fun filled and informative weekend
from 15 states, 2 Canadian provinces, and Australia representing
many facets of the beef industry, from fullblood and commercial
seedstock producers, commercial cattlemen, feedlots, beef
marketers and distributers, to grocers. Last year in Italy
some of us had the honor of meeting Lyndon Mulligan from
Australia and it was a pleasure to visit with him and
his daughter Naomi. We also had the privilege to visit
with many folks in the meat industry that market Piedmontese
beef. NAPA is blessed to have such knowledgeable, dedicated,
and cordial members along with a dedicated and very enthusiastic
group of people marketing Piedmontese beef. It is enlightening
to see such a diverse group working together so enthusiastically
toward a common goal. Thank you Montana Ranch Brand and
the Descheemaeker family for organizing a wonderful weekend
shared with friends and thank you for your great hospitality.
By Delon Shetler - NAPA President
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North American Piedmontese
Association (NAPA) 2010 Field Days in Montana: below
NAPA President Delon Shetler with Canadian President
Peter DenOudsten and Australian President Lyndon Mulligan,
with Vicki Johnson
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