[Part 2] Nelore: How a Telugu Cattle Breed Transformed Brazil
The
Nelore/Ongole breed accounts for as many as 100 million heads of cattle
in Brazil. This is evidence of the wholehearted way in which Brazilian
farmers have embraced it. And there is an economic reason to its
popularity. The Nelore’s great adaptability (to the country’s tropical
climate) and productivity (in terms of beef output) has made it the
cattle of choice. This is what the Associação dos Criadores de Nelore do
Brasil (Association of Nelore Breeders of Brazil or ACNB), a non-profit
organization formed in 1954 to promote Nelore Cattle, has to say about
the history of the breed’s introduction and propagation in the Latin
American country:
The
trajectory that transformed the Indian Ongole in the Brazilian Nelore
begins in the first half of the 19th century, when the first records of
landings in the country of zebu Indians originating in India date. The
story describes that the first appearance of the Nellore in the country
would have occurred in 1868 when a ship, destined for England, anchored
in Salvador with a couple of animals of the race on board. The animals
would have been commercialized, remaining in the country. Ten years
later, in search of exotic animals to bring to Brazil, Manoel Ubelhart
Lembgruber had contact with the Ongole breed during a visit to the zoo
in Hamburg, Germany, and from there promoted the importation of a couple
of animals of the breed in October of 1878. Subsequently, other items
originating directly from India contributed in Rio de Janeiro. The
Nelore breed was then expanding gradually, first in Rio de Janeiro and
then in São Paulo and Minas Gerais. In 1938, with the creation of the
Genealogical Record, the racial characteristics of the Nelore began to
be defined. The last
two significant imports of Nelore breeding occurred between 1960 and
1962. During this period, large genera such as Kavardi, Goliath, Rastan,
Checurupadu, Godhavari, Padu, and Kavardi were landed in Fernando de
Noronha, where they were quarantined. Today, Brazil is
estimated to have a herd of more than 200 million beef cattle and dairy
cattle, of which 80% of beef cattle are Nelore, which is more than 100
million head. This is the portrait of a work that has worked, from the
development of its own technological know-how and progressive gains of
excellence in quality, naturally, in full harmony with the environment. Brazilian
Nelore, besides being considered today as a legally national heritage,
such as carnival, football, caipirinha and barbecue, can be considered
as the great victory of Brazilian beef. Healthy and natural meat,
exported to more than 146 countries and increasingly demanded by savvy
consumers around the world.
Today, Brazil
is giving traditional beef-producers like Canada, the United States and
Australia a run for their money. Bodies like the Association of Nelore
Breeders of Brazil (with its headquarters in Sao Paulo) are working hard
to bring together everybody involved in the business around a common
goal (in their own words) – ‘to strengthen and defend a breed that
represents 80% of the national herd’. The ‘Beef Magazine’ (one of USA’s
leading cattle publications) had this to say about the role of Nelore
Cattle in Brazil’s economy:
Brazil’s
beef production systems and the type of beef it produces are worlds
apart from that in the U.S. Nearly all beef in Brazil is grass-finished,
and there’s virtually no use of growth hormones or ionophores. About
65% of Brazil’s beef cattle genetics are Nelore-based, and 85% are
Nelore-influenced. Nelore is a Bos indicus species closely linked to
India’s ancient breed of Ongole cattle, says Sandra Carreiro, Campo
Grange, Mato Grosso, Brazil. She’s a genetics veterinarian with Sete
Estrelas Embriões, one of Brazil’s leading Nelore genetics
producers. “Nelore is the ideal breed in the harsh climatic, nutritional
and sanitary conditions we see in the tropics because of their
hardiness and rustling ability,” she says. There’s
little disagreement, too, that Nelore matches the recent shift toward a
low-calorie, leaner-meat diet, without compromising taste. This was
demonstrated at the 1991 Houston Livestock Show when a purebred Nelore
steer won the “Best Overall in Taste” contest while competing against
dozens of hybrid and European steers. But, what Nelore beef gains in
performance under tropical conditions, and taste and leanness, it sorely
lacks in consistency and tenderness. Pound for
pound, Brazil’s beef production costs are a third to a half those of
American ranchers, and 15% lower than in Australia, according to USDA’s
ERS. Brazil’s second-world, beef productivity surfaces, though, in
factors like average age at slaughter, which is 30-36 months, and
carcass yields of only about 50-55%. Undoubtedly, Brazil is one of the
most competitive countries worldwide in animal protein production. And,
with the absence of U.S. and Canadian beef in South Asian markets for
what could be all of 2004, those markets could open further to Brazil at
the expense of Australia and New Zealand.
That there are
Brazilians who see the Nelore as one of the cultural symbols of the
country (alongside the likes of the Carnaval celebrations, the Selecao
or national football team, the Caipirinha, an extremely popular
cocktail, and Churrasco, traditional grilled meat from the south), and
Americans who consider it to be a game-changer in the global beef export
business speaks volumes about the impact the breed had on the land that
adopted it. The irony of the situation is that the Nelore/Ongole is
dying out in the land of its birth. While Brazil has as many as 100
million of them, there are only 200,000 of them in India. The decline
has a lot to do with the actions of the Union (based in Delhi, in North
India) and State Govt.s and the communities that have dominated them
(traditionally conservative, upper caste groups that formed South Asia’s
ruling clans, priesthood and mercantile networks). These people have
supplied the great majority of India’s ministers (including most of the
country’s Prime Ministers and members of their Cabinets), bureaucrats
and researchers. This has had a devastating impact on animal husbandry
in particular (where people with little knowledge of the country’s
agrarian systems and a contemptuous attitude towards lower caste
pastoralist, farming and artisanal groups, have directed policies).
According to several reports, traditional Zebu breeds like Ongole are
declining rapidly due to short-sighted (and mostly, religiously
inspired) decisions. More about that later. Reference:
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