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The Irish Parthenaise Cattle Breed Society

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Sponsored By

• Ease of Calving - Double Muscle - High Fertility

• Excellent Growth - Efficient Conversion - High Killing Out %

• High Dressing % - Tender Lean Meat - Attractive Cattle

INTRODUCTION
One of the oldest beef breeds in France. The Parthenaise, is derived
from cattle that for centuries have been found in Western France and
Brittany where they are used to produce high quality lean meat sought
after by today's consumer.

The herd book established in 1893 is one of the oldest in the country.
It has kept pace with changing developments to assure the continued
breeding and recording of pedigree Parthenaise.

The Parthenaise thrives on all types of terrain and can cope with
differing climatic conditions and has very good disease resistance,
Renowned for their high fertility, they calve regularly and easily.

The major advantage of breeding heavily muscled Parthenaise is to
produce expensive cuts of high quality meat with very little fat and
high meat to bone ratio. Crossbreds sell at a premium with excellent
conformation in the high value carcass areas.

The Parthenaise breed are an attractive, stylish (especially the females)
breed, with pronounced pigmentation and hard black feet. They have
great mobility and thriftiness.

One of the oldest breeds in France, where they were used to produce
the very rich milk from which the superb butter, famous in these regions
is made, they are now exclusively a beef breed.

They originated from the west central part of France at the beginning
of the century, occupying an area stretching from the borders of Brittany
to the Charente basin.

QUALITIES
Parthenaise cattle are now no longer primarily used for milk production
but are kept in herds for suckling. Fertility, regularity and ease
of calving, and hardiness of calves are all excellent, with the result
that productivity is very high, both numerically and by weight, furthermore
the maternal qualities and milk yields of Parthenaise cows ensure
that their calves grow well.

Carcasses produce high yields of excellent quality meat, the result
of good conformation and fine bone. Since killing out percentages
can be over 67%, cattle offered make very high prices.

BREEDING & DISTRIBUTION
Breeding which for more than ten years has been for early maturity
and conformation has resulted in a spectacular improvement in beef
quality.

Since 1970, the breed has improved very rapidly and is enjoying a
renaissance, in France. There were about 20,000 head in 1980 and
the society developed an improvement programme with nearly 100 breeders
and 2,000 cows taking part.

Calving surveys reveal that despite the heavy muscling there is hardly
any difficulty calving, 28% require slight assistance and 66% require
no assistance at all.

Frequently animals of the type imported kill out at over 67%. Average
birth weight for bulls is around 44 kg and heifers 41 kg, with mature
bulls weighing up to 1,250 kg and cows up to 900 kg. A large number
of crossbreds have been born in the U.K., all without assistance and
there is good profile reports.

French government statistics show the Parthenaise to be highly productive,
fertile producers of high quality lean meat. The slogan of the French
Breed Society is "Une viande hors du common" or loosely translated
"A cut above the rest".

In 1970 the French Breed Society established a programme with three
main aims:

1. To work towards producing high quality beef.
2. To spread modern breeding and production techniques.
3. To ensure a high health status of the stock.

In 1997 after a large number of requests to establish an Irish breed
improvement plan and continue the programme of the French Breed Society,
the Irish Parthenaise Society was founded.

Go To http://www.parthenaise.ie