Giant Italian breed now on cattle scene

Press, Volume CXIV, Issue 33478, 8 March 1974, Page 6

Giant Italian breed now on cattle scene

Still another overseas breed of cattle is beginning to make its appearance on the New Zealand scene —it is the Italian Chianina. In the last few days a number of crossbred calves resulting from the use of Chianina semen from Canada have been born in Canterbury.

One of the particular claims to fame of this breed is its tremendous sjze. Mr D. D. Gillanders, of Mount Seddon, Cheviot, on whose property some of the first of the new crossbred calves were born was wondering this week — perhaps just a little jokingly — whether his cattle yards would be big enough' to take cattle of this breed, which stand up to more than 6ft high at the withers and weigh up to 40001 b in the case of mature bulls. Mr Gillanders says that they are the largest and tallest cattle breed in the world. The breed is also a very ancient one — some 3000 years old. It is almost certainly descended from the large white breed of cattle that the Romans used for sacrificial purposes. . It apparently has its origins in the Vai ,di Chiana in Tuscany on the border with Umbria and is found in Tuscany and Umbria, south of Florence, in a region with such familiar names to New Zealand ser-

vicemen who were in Italy during World War II as ‘Arezzo, Siena and Perugia. In fact, Mr Gillanders’s interest in these cattle goes

back to those days when he was serving alongside a West Coaster with a cattle background and also a man who had been a stock agent, and some four years ago with the idea in his mind of importing a heifer of the breed, Mr Gillanders had Wright Stephensons in London write to a breeder in Italy whose name he found in a magazine. The letter was referred to a society for the advancement of Italian beef breeds handling semen of the breed, whose director offered to provide him with semen free of charge to undertake mutually advan-'

tageous experiments with the breed in this country. Of course Mr Gillanders was unable to import either a live cattle beast from Italy or the semen. But his continuing interest in the breed resulted in him securing some of the first semen to be brought into the country, and on Tuesday of last week two - heifer calves were born on his property to two Shorthorn heifers by semen from an Italian bull, Friggio, which is now in Canada. They' weighed 80 and 1001 b and were born naturally without any assistance. This year Mr Gillanders expects to have 80 or 90 crossbred calves bom as a result of the use of Chianina semen. In the days of Mussolini before World War II a Government - sponsored scheme to upgrade the breed was launched. A pamphlet issued by the Italian society for the breed recalls that a number of cows and bulls of the best type belonging to private owners willing to comply with the rules were chosen and marked, and all of the progeny were tested

monthly and gains in weight recorded. It was soon possible to determine which bulls and lines of cattle gave the best results.

This programme was interrupted during the war, but it is of some interest that auring the period of the Allied Military Government the leading official for agriculture, a Colonel D. Kennedy, developed a keen interest in the breed and was active in seeing that development of the breed was resumed. He gave a challenge cup for competition among bulls, which helped to rekindle enthusiasm. Up until fairly recent times the big white cattle have of course been used for draught purposes — for pulling ploughs and* carts.

They have also frequently been stalled in part of the family house and because of their contacts with man they are extraordinarily quiet, and Mr Gillanders quotes an official from American Breeders’ Service as saying that of all the exotics that they handle the Chianina is the quietest. Hence it seems ideally suited for use in feedlots. On the other hand it apparently has a rare turn of speed and it is said that cowboys on the legendary American quarter horses have not been able to rope them. Mr Gillanders believes that the breed may have a place in this country as a terminal sire because they are relatively slow maturing and have a fast growth rate. The Italian society says that if suitably fed the cattle will give excellent beef at any time between the age's of six and 24 months. Animals in .good condition will dress out at 58 to 60 per cent dead weight with very little fat on them and none at all in the meat. It is recalled that at a show held at Orvieto a few years ago not one of the 136 animals presented showed a liveweight gain from birth of less than a kilogram per day (about 2.21 b), and most of them were around the 1.3 kilogram mark and quite a few reached the 1.5 kilogram mark. At two years' the society says that liveweights of well over 1000 kilograms (22001 b are far from rare among bulls. Although the .breed js so big, it apparently does not present a major calving problem when used with smaller breeds. The society says that this is because although the purebred calves are of good size (45 kilograms or about 1001 b is usual), they are very narrow in the hindquarters with very small heads and this character is inherited in the crossbred animals making it safe to put even small cows to large Chianina bulls without fear. Apart from Mr Gillanders’s 'calves there have been reports of others being born in the province in the past few days. Last Thursday a bull calf weighing about 951 b was born on the property of Kaiapoi

Transplants, also by Friggio, to a CharolaisHereford cross heifer. It was reddish in colour. Mr Gillanders’s first calves are grey-brown and tanny brown in colour. He has had another since out of a Hereford. Last week-end the Aclands at Mount Peel in South Canterbury also had their first crossbred calf with Chianina blood in it and by the middle of this week tbfy had three — two heifers and a bull — all out of Charolais-Angus females — and weighing some 80 to 851 b. Mr John Acland said that there had been no calving problems. They are expecting a total drop of about 20 crossbred calves.

The Chianina has a white coat but has a black skin pigmentation and is black on the points having a black nose and being black around, the eyes and having a black switch. These characteristics give it a high degree of heat tolerance. Because the white is recessive, Mr Gillanders says that some care should be taken in a breeding up programme in the selection of the i base females to ensure that the end result of the programme is a white animal like the purebred. Mr Gillanders has purchased a purebred heifer, as yet unborn, from an

English breeder who has obtained 15 heifers from Italy. He is hopeful that it will arrive in this country early next year.

Bull and heifer calves (not yet bom.) are currently selling for £lO,OOO sterling and more in the United Kingdom and Friesian cows carrying an egg transplant are currently priced at about £40,000. Some 190 bulls and cows have been imported into Britain from Italy and Mr Gillanders says that the rights to have an animal of the breed out of the importations have been traded at £lO,OOO to £12,000. “We still do not know everything about the Chianina breed — we do not know exactly what we are producing,” Dr Jack Phillips, chief executive officer, said at the annual meeting of the American Chianina Association late last year. “We do know this however: any breed that will sire a calf out of a moderate-sized cow that will outgrow anything else — there will be a place for that breed.” In evaluating the breed’s performance in its brief history in the United States, he said that calving problems had been minimal at the worst and non-exist-ent foi the most part.

"1 would like to tell you what problems we are having so you can take steps to avoid them, but so tar we just have not had any,” he said.

Dr I. L. Mason, of the Institute of Animal Genetics in Edinburgh, says that on the basis of admit-i tedly few comparisons and with small numbers of' cattle one might suggest that the improved Italian breeds, among them the Chianina, are comparable with the Charolais in size I and growth rate.

Some of the other breeds like the Romagna or Romagnola, may also be seen in New Zealand in due' course.