Chianina

The Chianina is the largest breed of cattle in the world and one of the oldest, native to the Chiana Valley in Tuscany and recorded in Roman agricultural writing. Bulls reach over 1,700 kilograms and stand nearly two metres at the withers.

They were draft animals for most of that history, which is why they are built tall and long rather than deep and thick.

In North America they are used almost entirely as a terminal cross. A Chianina bull adds frame, length of carcass and lean growth to smaller British-breed cows, and the crossbred calf carries far more of that value than a purebred would.

The trade is that almost nothing about a purebred suits a commercial cow herd. They are late maturing, they marble poorly, mature cow size is enormous, and the white coat with black skin is a look the feeder market does not reward.