25,000 years ago a migration of Zebu or Brahman cattle from Pakistan made its way into north western Italy. Blocked by the Alps Mountains from moving further, these cattle stayed and intermingled with the local "native" cattle - the Auroch
Myostatin occurs naturally in all mammals. Its effect is to restrict muscle growth. However, when the gene has naturally mutated, as is the case with the Piedmontese cattle, it can become in-active and no longer prevents muscle development. This allows for what has been called "double muscling" - a very mis-leading term. In reality, the disfunctional Myostatin removes the "growth governor" and allows these cattle to develop on average 14 percent more muscle mass than cattle with functional myostatin.
The effects of the Myostatin gene - which allows this breed to produce MORE beef per carcass - also dramatically improves the beef tenderness, leaness and healthfulness. The facts are - there is no better breeding choice to improve BEEF production and BEEF quality than Piedmontese.
The first Piedmontese in North America arrived in the fall of 1979 - through an importation made from Italy by the PBL Co-operative of Saskatchewan, Canada. Many attempts had been made prior to this time to import the breed, both by the PBL Co-op and other cattlemen, but there had been a reluctance by the Italian Association to sell pure breeding stock - as well as significant difficulty due to health protocols. There were 5 animals in total that arrived in Canada inthe first importation: 1 bull named "Brindisi", and 4 females "Banana", "Biba", "Bisca" and "Binda".