The Italian red spotted breed: a triple-use breed
Friulian Pezzata Rossa the story
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The Friulian red piebald was born in 1870 from a rather curious cross between an indigenous breed - called Friulian and recognizable by its wheaten coat, and the red piebald Simmental breed from Switzerland. A particular cross that has allowed the creation of a new breed suitable for triple use: work, meat and milk. |
Over time it was decided to improve the breed to enhance the quality of the products: crossing with French Montbeliarde breed bulls for milk and Bavarian and Austrian breed bulls for meat.
Origin and territory
Friuli is, above all on a historical level, a territory that chooses to offer beef breeds capable of adapting to different uses. Morphology is a highly discriminating element that allows agriculture and breeding to select resistant and strong animals.
The red spotted is the example that, more than many others, demonstrates the need for the development of bovine breeds with the dual use of meat and milk, especially if you choose to take a leap back in time and imagine the 1800s, when the animals were mainly used for work and it was necessary to optimize every type of resource.
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In Friuli, breeding is a complex business, the landscapes are steep and the temperatures are quite harsh, it is therefore necessary to allow the animals to adapt to the territory and at the same time be free to move between a hill and a mountain. |
The breed has a very particular connection with history. Scrolling backwards we find a document dated 1986 which transforms the Pezzata Rossa Friulana into the Pezzata Rossa Italiana, following its rapid diffusion throughout the territory and as a result of Presidential Decree no. 1134 of 1986.
Around 1800, the Zootechnical Commission began selecting the breed by using some crosses with more or less powerful bulls and maintaining the quality of the milk unchanged, an indispensable element for raising healthy and strong calves.
As time passed, the interest in the triple - and excellent - use spread throughout the territory until it reached the Veneto, Tuscany and the cities of Venice and Trieste, until 1914 when the arrival of the war blocked everything and moved attention.
In 1926 it was decided to rebuild the breed and the whole process started again, mindful of the potential that had been created previously. World War II did not affect the Friulian bovine heritage in any way and in the following years it was decided to enroll the breed in the herd book so as to underwrite uses, aptitudes and characteristics, the red spotted cows thus become, to all intents and purposes, part of the rural heritage Italian.
Italian red pezzata and characteristics
Over time, the intrinsic strength of the red spotted has become a cornerstone of the breed which, thanks to this particular characteristic, has allowed it to expand its range of use: once only Friulian, years later it was expatriated beyond the region, reaching almost all of Italy.
The physical characteristics have given it another nickname the ox horse and the reason is easy to say: an imposing size, strong and resistant, rustic and dynamic at the same time, thanks to the strength relegated to the skeletal structure and joints.
Italian red pezzata physical characteristics
Rustic, fertile and long-lived, the red spotted cow appears resistant and prolific.
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The reddish coat, darker and tending towards brown in males, is speckled and called red piebald. The weight of the adult animal reaches 11 tons for the male and just under 7 for the females, with a height ranging between 150 and 140 cm. |
The Italian red spotted herds present in Friuli and the rest of the Bel Paese can boast the presence of resistant animals and excellent sources of income.
In short, an impressive animal! Despite the size, the figure as a whole appears harmonious, both in terms of size and weight, and in terms of colours: white muzzle and waxy yellow horns complete the aesthetics of a breed suitable for different uses.
The milk is rich and excellent for the growth of calves, the meat is marbled and succulent for the preparation of more or less valuable cuts, and the use - now rather obsolete - in agricultural fields.
Red piebald for meat
It's easy to say good meat, but what specifically does it mean? Even before recognizing and studying the cuts of meat, it is necessary to trace the breed of the animal and discover its strengths and weaknesses. Red spotted cows, for example, allow you to obtain perfectly marbled meat, even more so if the animal is raised free to graze. His aptitude for work, written in his DNA, allows him to move freely and return fine, juicy cuts of meat.
The marbling issue is a substantial element that transforms some particular cuts of beef into a real experience, even more so when it comes to territories close to Tuscany where rare meat is a real delicacy.
Without taking anything away from the other regions of Italy that manage to create respectable tartares and sauces. In short, when it comes to meat, it is complex to move away from excellence, whatever dish it is.
