It is raised for beef and milk production, but in the past was a triple-purpose breed, used also as a draught animal.

Many cattle in the area were wheaten; from the last decades of the nineteenth century farmers recognised that white-coated animals yielded better-quality meat, and began to breed selectively for white colouring.

Numbers began to decline after the Second World War: in 1955 the population was again estimated at 200,000, and the Modenese constituted about 52% of the cattle raised in the province of Modena; by 1968 this had fallen to 26%.

[2] The Modenese is one of the sixteen minor Italian cattle breeds of limited diffusion recognised and protected by the Ministero delle Politiche Agricole Alimentari e Forestali, the Italian ministry of agriculture.

Nowadays only a few small farms still deliver milk to special dairies for Parmigiano Reggiano.