The Bartali - Diaceto - Imolo 3000 line The
"First Family"
The
Bartali line is one of the most nearly perfect lines of breeding
in the Chianina breed, Bartali was bred in the Pisa area, where
Chianina cattle are uniquely triple - purpose (draft,meat and
milk). He was selected as a principle herd sire on the basis of
his sire Sfuggito's record (prepotency and nearly perfect
conformation), his dam (good conformation and outstanding milking
ability), and his own conformation and performance.
Diaceto, son of Bartali, is the foundation bull of the Chianina
breed in North America. He was chosen to produce the first semen
available for breeding here. His performance far exceeds the
Chianina breed standards. One of Diaceto's crossbred American
sons, Big Ben, had an adjusted 205-actual day weight of 1,019
lbs., and indication of the Bartali line's ability to perform.
Imolo 3000, another son of Bartali, is the only member of this
family to stand today in North America. Selected on the basis of
structural perfection and performance, Imolo 3000 has an added
advantage: He is double bred, with Bartali appearing on both
sides of his pedigree. Recognized as the oldest and largest of
all cattle breeds, the Chianina offers fertility, calving ease,
rapid and continuous growth, heat tolerance and insect
resistance. In the pure breed, sound feet and legs and very even
temperaments result from years of selection for these traits,
since the breed was used primarily for draft purposes. Chianina
bulls are aggressive, and the very feminine cows breed and calve
regularly. A small head and narrow shoulders, which are breed
characteristics, allow for very easy calving, both in purebreds
and crossbreds. Because the breed's origin is the relatively
small Chiana Valley in Italy, a high coefficient of inbreeding
has developed; thus we have an extremely uniform breed - and
surprisingly - one that is free of genetic defects.
The following information was taken from the 1974 Beef Sire Directory, produced by International Cryo-Biological Services, Inc.