Chianina
Italian breeds of cattle

Origin and diffusion

This ancient breed has been raised for over twenty-two centuries and is indigenous to Val di Chiana, the fertile plain in central Italy, located between the regions of Tuscany and Umbria, that gave this breed its name. It then spread throughout all the provinces in Central Italy and, following World War II, it also crossed the ocean into South America, Australia, Canada and the United States. The giant of the species, pure white and highly noble in its morphological perfection, Chianina has earned an international reputation thanks to a genetic heritage that is unique throughout the world. Its characteristics of somatic gigantism, rapid growth and early maturity are combined with enormous resistance to harsh environmental conditions and great ease of calving, all of which represent zootechnical factors essential to the production of beef that is commercially superior since it is lean and offers excellent nutritional characteristics. Put together, these characteristics have made Chianina one of the best beef cattle breeds in the world.
The National Association of Italian Beef-Cattle Breeders (ANABIC - www.anabic.it) was estabilished to promote and implement all types of initiatives aimed towards improving, developing, ad spreading the autochthonous Italian cattle breeds: Marchigiana, Chianina, Romagnola, Maremmana and Podolica. ANABIC, which came about by merging the prevously existing individual National Breed Associations, has taken on their responsabilities as far as selection is concerned and has set up a single National Herd Book for the Italian beef-cattle breeds.
There are 805 ranches enrolled in the Herd Book, for a total of 31.000 controlled head of cattle.

Morphological characteristics

Beef type characterized by somatic gigantism, lonk trunk, light-weight skeletal structure. Alert, lively, easily adaptable to a variety of environments and modest fee ding conditions.
Ita has a porcelain-white coat with slate-gray skin and black pigmentation around the natural orifices. Its head is light and expressive and it has short horns. The Chianina ha s long cylindrical trunk with a thick wide back and loins, a broad horizontal rump, long convex-shaped thighs and buttocks, a solid but lightweight skeletal structure and correct perpendicularity. Calves are wheat-colored at birth , but by the age of three-four months their coat runs to the color typical of this breed. In this breed, which is renowned for its somatic gigantism, calving is completely spontaneous - even for calves wighing up to 50 kg - thanks to the Chianina's typical dolichomorphic structure.

Weight:
- bullls: the most famous Chianina bulls have reached truly outstanding sizes of 1700 kgs in weight, with a height of two meters at  the withers;
- cows: 800-900 kgs and wight can often go as high as 1000 kgs.

Economic characteristics

Growth potential in the best subjects can exceed 2 kgs a day. Ideal slaughter weight is 650-700 kgs at ana age of 16-18 months, for a yield of 64-65%. Chianina beef is famous for its excellence as well as for its good nutritional value.

Chianina - Cow

Chianina - Bull

Chianina