HOLY COW!

How a cattle specimen with Indian roots became the Brazilian cattle industry's billion-dollar jewel

- MILAN SIME MARTINIC

In the annals of livestock breeding, the sale of a single white Nelore cow in Brazil last year was a watershed moment. At an auction held in the central Brazilian town of Nova Iguaçu in Goiás state, one-third of the ownership of this Nelore cow was sold for $1.44 million, propelling her total valuation to an incredible $4.3 million ( 36 crore). The price tag, certified by Guinness World Records, makes the cow the planet’s most valuable cattle specimen.

The cow is named Viatina-19 FIV Mara Imóveis, and she represents the leading edge of biotechnological innovation revolutionising the global cattle trade. While Nelore bulls regularly fetch prices close to $2,000, there are specific reasons why a cow of the same breed was sold for such an astronomical sum. The bulls are typically sold for their meat and reproductive capabilities, but the value of Viatina-19 lies squarely in her impeccable genetics and pedigree.

Viatina-19 has Indian lineage. The Nelore breed, known scientifically as Bos indicus, is descended from the Ongole cattle of Nellore district in Andhra Pradesh. Ongole cattle are known for their exceptional ability to endure scorching heat and drought-like conditions, and have been revered for centuries as sacred beings.

Both Ongole and Nelore are part of the cattle subspecies called zebu. It was in 1868 that zebu cattle first arrived on Brazilian shores—two bulls and two cows of the Ongole breed made the 13,000km voyage from Nellore to Brazil’s vast and pastoral Bahia state, as per the trade book Cattle Husbandry in India. The cattle were made to cross continents so that they could mix with the milk-laden Dutch breeds, begetting a cross that could better withstand the bugs that thrived in the warm Brazilian climates.