After almost twenty
years of breeding Romagnola cattle from genetics gathered from many parts
of the globe, Cherokee Ranch has earned a reputation as the leader in
quality and diversity of Romagnola genetics.
Our experience shows Romagnola cattle are hardy and efficient in extreme conditions. We have seen them survive in Australian drought conditions when cattle other than Brahman crosses could not. I have watched them grazing on the sides of steep, rocky mountains in Italy, and literally eating cactus in Monterrey, Mexico where the only thing growing would either stick or prick you. I have watched them thrive in Florida’s hard going, insect infested, and heat sweltering back country. Since they can move so easily and cover a lot of ground, they are a top choice of cattlemen with large tracts of land where the bulls have to travel great distances to cover the cows. Romagnola are not only heat and insect resistant, hardy and can move well, the bulls are super fertile and will last for many years.
The cows have one of the highest butterfat percentages at 3.5, making their milk rich. Their udders are tucked well, with good teat placement, enabling them to graze in cactus and prickly vegetation. Romagnola cows not only milk well, but make excellent mothers. This is true of Romagnola crossed females as well. We have used many recipient cows, and most of our best year to year have been our Romagnola crossed cows. They brought more money when we went to sell them than any other breed or cross breed. Our commercial cattle bull buyers have reported premiums when selling both their steers and/or heifers. In fact, most find it hard to sell the heifers which will bring about as much in the feedlot as their steer counterparts, and a premium when selling replacement heifers.
I invite you to read on
about the Romagnola breed, and as you browse through the website,
hopefully you will experience the amazing benefits of this powerful
breed with lean and tender beef from Italy. We would be thrilled to
share our knowledge and welcome you to visit the ranch at your first
opportunity. Come see for yourselves why we are so enthusiastic about
the cattle. We have a large inventory of females and bulls for sale, and
embryos and semen for all your needs, whether you are a seedstock
breeder or a commercial cattleman or cattlewoman. Give us a call and we’ll talk “Romagnola”!
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The picture is three of our original seven Romagnola cattle we bought in
Reno, Nevada.
After the Romagnola
females calved alongside the Beefmaster cows, right off I noticed some
amazing differences. The calves were very small, and started trying to
stand right away after hitting the ground. Once they got up, they
were very lively as if they were several days old. By the time
they were around 6-7 months at weaning, the real differences showed.
They were bulging with muscle all the way down their loin and through
the hips, and were at least 100 pounds heavier than the best genetics we
had in the Beefmaster breed, on the same conditions, and in the same
pastures. We bred some of
our commercial recipient cows we had used for embryo transfer to both
Beefmaster and Romagnola bulls, and the Romagnola crossed calves were
also smaller and more lively at birth, yet heavier at weaning.
We grew off some of
these Rom-cross calves and had them processed at about 15 months of age.
The local packer, who had a large packing house and experience with a
wide variety of breeds, was totally amazed at the uniformity and quality
of the carcasses from these crosses. They were all “no-trim” carcasses,
and all graded choice out of some mixed up commercial cows bred by a Romagnola bull. They all yielded over 65% and would have graded yield
grade number 1. Years of experience, and the information on many
feedlot steers reproduced these results time and time again over the
years since then. We won every carcass and cooking contest we
entered, including the first “Tennessee Grill Off” at the new
Agricultural Expo Center in Franklin, TN., where we grilled steaks from
a two year old bull that broke his leg. The meat from this animal amazed
the judges due to the tender, lean, moist, and great tasting beef we
presented. An added benefit is when you breed purebred Angus cattle to
top Romagnola bulls, you will produce a small black calf that will grow
off, and yield and grade the ideal carcass for today’s market - every
time.
Around 2000, we sent the
genetics from several different lines of our Romagnola fullblood bulls
to the testing station in the United States working on beef genes for
muscle tenderness. It was found that the Romagnola genes from these
animals ranked as high, or higher than any other breed of cattle tested
for the tenderness gene. This news is not surprising, since “live”
scores for tenderness have been at the top in meat judging contests all
over the world, including as far as Australia where they get really
serious about these events. One of the biggest international cattle
expos in the world is held every three years in Rockhampton, Australia,
and I personally attended several of these events since 1997. With each
competition, the Romagnola and Romagnola crosses excelled in the meat
judging, live steer weights, carcass competition, and on-the-hoof
judging. They have won the “Jap Ox” contests every time I attended, in
which a panel of expert judges evaluate live animals and their resultant
carcasses bound for export to the Philippines and other Asian markets.
Cattle are the number one export from Australia.