References to the Brazilian beef industry are now well known. South America’s largest powers are the world’s second largest beef producers and the largest exporters. In March alone, it exported up to 200,000 tonnes of raw materials with sales of over $ 1.12 billion. But lesser known is the role played by Indian cattle in the development of the industry. In the late 19th century, European settlers invaded indigenous lands in the western central part of Matt Grosso and set up a ranch. The catch was the tropical climate of the state. It was hot and humid and was not suitable for Scandinavian cattle used to cool the climate. Innovative ranchers determined to succeed decided to introduce special grasses in the area and import cattle from distant India, a country with similar climatic conditions. The livestock she chose was Bos indicus, a subspecies native to the Indian subcontinent, characterized by a fatty hump on her shoulders. Historical records show that Zebu cattle were shipped to South America as early as the early 19th century.
However, Brazil began importing zebu from India in the 1890s, with the first batch going from Nerol to the Triangulo Mineiro region of Minas Gerais, adjacent to Matt Grosso. “The first regular import of Zeb was a Nerol variety called Ongole in India,” said Robert Wilcox, an associate professor of history at Northern Kentucky University, in his 2017 book “Backland Cattle.” : Mato Grosso and the Evolution of the Ranch ”. The tropics of Brazil. “The animals around Madras are mainly characterized by white hair color. Currently, they are the most popular breed of Zeb in South America, especially in central Brazil.” In Brazil, a large amount of Gyr and Cancrezi, which are known to be resistant to parasites, are also imported. “It is not entirely clear why these three varieties were chosen, but for breeding in India, superiority in the country, longevity, obedience and adaptability, which are the basic criteria for Brazilian buyers. It seems to be related. Various purposes, “Wilcox wrote. When Brazilian businessmen came to India to buy cows from Indian nomads, they had unscient Indian varieties have become known in Brazil for their toughness and ability to withstand harsh weather, floods and droughts.
Zebu cattle were able to withstand a long march to the best pastures in the country, which contributed to their popularity. One of the biggest supporters of Indian cattle imports was a wealthy landowner named Colonel José Caetano Borges, who founded the import company Borges & Irmãos. In 1905 Borges sent his employee Angelo Costa to India to buy Nerol, Zeal and Cancrezi cattle. His travel records show that Brazilian buyers in Bombay traveled to different parts of the country in search of strong cows that could survive a long journey from India to Brazil. Eventually, Costa returned 49 cows to Uberaba, Minas Gerais, where they were eaten by local ranchers. This led him to return to India in 1907 to import much larger cattle. In the early 1920s, more than 3,000 cows came from India to Brazil. India-Brazilian Race The majority of cattle imported from India were bulls. “Some females were included in the shipment, but most of the imported animals were males mated with native Bostaurus cattle from the Iberian Peninsula,” said Flabio V. Meirers and Artur JM Rosa.
A group of Brazilian scientists, led by a group of scientists, wrote in a 1999 article. The title is “Is American Zeb really a sign of a boss?” The rancher of Triangulo Mineiro, led by Borges, who was dissatisfied with the results of mating Indian bulls with Iberian cattle, was a cross between Gyr and Zeb Guzera in the early 1920s. Decided to make a Brazilian gyr cattle. Borges wanted to name a new variety of Induberaba after his hometown, but he encountered resistance from farmers in other parts of the country. This variety was eventually named Indu Brazil and was almost immediately popular. The fact that an adult cow weighs over 1200 kg and an adult cow weighs over 750 kg probably contributed to his acceptance.ific criteria such as cow color and ear length in mind. This made Indian traders so entertaining that they jokingly called Brazilians “buyers of cow ears,” Wilcox said.
“It was a pure Zebu species with no input from Bostaurus, and although it was not entirely absent from other Zebu species, it was primarily a hybrid of Gyr and Guzera,” Wilcox wrote. “The author of Indu Brazil was able to obtain much more meat per animal than provided by Zeb crossed with European breeds and was advertised as the savior of the Brazilian cattle industry in 1930. Indu-Brazilian cows with the longest ears have won the highest prices on the market. It’s no wonder that demand for it has skyrocketed. “By the late 1930s, it became clear that the population of purebred Indian cattle in Brazil was very low,” Wilcox wrote. “This has allowed the federal government to promote purebred breeding and secure pedigree through herds and pedigree certificates.” Necessary to ensure that newborn calves drink their mother’s offspring. Despite concerns about the level of human intervention, this variety has been popular for decades. milk.
the 1950s, new cattle were required to be imported from India, but a government ban forced ranchers to smuggle Zebu cattle from nearby Bolivia. There was little choice, the government lifted the ban, and in 1962 Brazil began importing bulls from India again. As Wilcox stated, up to 318 Neroa cattle were brought into the country to “reinject blood into a herd of Brazil.” To date, Neroa cattle are the most valuable on the tropical ranch of Brazil. Up to 90% of beef production comes from Nerole beef. Indu Brazil, on the other hand, is considered endangered in Brazil, although it is found in other Latin American countries such as Colombia, Venezuela and Mexico, as well as in African countries, Australia and Thailand.
Cow diplomacy The story of India’s exports in establishing the Brazilian cattle industry is one of the most important historical developments in the relationship between India and Brazil, but given the sensitivity to beef consumption in certain sections of Indian society, This chapter is a little neglected. In a January 2020 letter on the relationship between India and Brazil, the Indian Ministry of Foreign Affairs briefly mentions cattle. “Another notable but relatively unknown aspect of our bilateral relations is that the majority of Brazilian cattle are of Indian origin,” said the ministry, making Brazil one of the world’s leading beef producers. Said ignoring India’s role in developing into one of the people and exporters. But the story doesn’t end here. If India advances its proposal to import the semen of Gyr bulls, things could go awry. “Similar to Brazil’s breeding programs in the past, it was uncertain and error-prone, but today it not only strengthens Zeb’s dominance in Brazil, but also because of its potential exports to India. It also acted as a warehouse for the industry and became a major player in the industry, “Wilcox wrote.
Some scholars suggest that the lack of pedigree management and the introduction of European dairy cows into India have reduced the purity of Indian herds. However, plans to import Brazilian Zeal cattle semen faced opposition from Gujarat cattle breeders who retained the original Zeal cattle genetics and claimed that Brazilian cattle were genetically modified. The plan to import bull semen was put on hold in 2019, but there was talk of a resurgence two years later. Regardless of how history unfolds, the journey of Nerol, Zeal and Kakureji cows from India to Brazil in the 19th and 20th centuries will continue to be a remarkable chapter in the history of globalization.
Source: Scroll.in
