In the news:

Meat packers pinched for Amazon grazing violations

The Brazilian government has levied the equivalent of $64 million in fines against nearly two dozen domestic meatpackers and processors. It charges that the packers sourced beef raised on illegally deforested land in the Amazon. Among those fined was JBS, the world’s largest meatpacking company.

EU claim Brazil can’t prove hormone-free beef

Brazil’s Ministry of Agriculture cannot attest to producer compliance regarding the non-use of growth hormones in cattle whose beef is destined for the European Union. While there’s no reported discovery of oestradiol17-beta in any imported beef, EU auditors said Brazilian beef producers can’t be trusted to not use the prohibited growth hormone.

Brazil: The tropical beef blowtorch

Brazil houses the world’s second-largest cattle herd. At 192.4 million head, that’s nearly 21% of all the cattle roaming the planet. The country is also the world’s second-largest beef producer.

Last year, 10.95 million metric tons (mmt) of beef passed through Brazil’s packing plants – 18% of global production. Compare that to the U.S., where 87.2 million head of cattle produced 12.29 mmt of beef, or 20% of the global beef supply.

While India has the most bovine animals of any country on Earth, India’s producers only harvest 4.4 mmt of beef annually.

Related:Global BEEF Series: Leveling the playing field on quality beef

Brazil is perennially the world’s leading beef exporter. In 2024, the country’s producers will market 3.3 mmt of beef and veal worth about $8 billion (USD). By comparison, U.S. producers will export 1.3 mmt of beef products worth about $10 billion.

Forecasters say Brazil’s beef production and exports will drop slightly (3-4%) in 2025 as the nation enters a herd rebuilding phase in its cattle cycle.

Nelore: Brazil’s bedrock breed

Nelore cattle account for 80-85% of Brazil’s beef genetics. These Bos indicus zebu-type cattle descend from India’s Ongole breed first introduced into South America in 1868.

The white-haired, dark-pigmented breed thrives in subtropical and tropical environments, from Brazil’s scorching cerrado shrublands to the humid Amazon basin. Nelore cows are known to be heat tolerant, long-lived and physically hardy, with easy calving and moderate dispositions. Nelore cows are good mothers with low-maintenance traits and are noted for their disease, parasite and insect resistance.

While Nelore cattle fit well in Brazil’s grazing environs, they carry innate productivity challenges, especially in terms of reproductive traits.

Nelore cows typically drop their first calf at three to four years of age – up to five years in the more severe grazing regions. Rebreeding intervals average 16-18 months. It’s not uncommon for a 20-year-old Nelore cow to calve only 8-10 times in her life. Nelore bulls reach puberty at 20-24 months of age.

Related:Global beef roundup: Focus on Brazil, Part 2

Nelore cows generally lack the genetic predisposition to respond reproductively to added nutrition. Plus, in a country that hangs its hat on low-cost production, added attention to nutrition means higher costs, which would erode Brazil’s comparative economic advantage.

The rub on Nelore productivity doesn’t end at breeding, though. In the packing house, the age of slaughter is commonly 24-30 months. Plus, Nelore-based beef animals dress at about 53% (carcass weight / live weight), compared to 63% in the U.S.

Challenging tasks ahead

Taste panels rank Nelore beef among the tastiest beef around. Nelore beef is often described as pleasantly “intense” and “concentrated.” Meat scientists say these flavor traits are largely enhanced by an animal’s chronological age at harvest.

Tenderness, though, is another story. Sensory panels and laboratory shear force tests routinely place Brazilian beef very low on the palatability scale.

Brazilian meat scientists agree that moderately inheritable traits like intramuscular fat and meat tenderness require more attention from Nelore breeding programs. At the same time, animal scientists continue to work with Brazil’s seedstock producers on the challenging task of improving the reproductive traits associated with Nelore cows.

Editor’s note: In this series on global beef production, the author draws on years of studying and analyzing global beef systems. His extensive travel to many of the world’s leading beef-producing countries offers a firsthand, objective look at the challenges and opportunities beef producers worldwide face in a highly competitive protein marketplace.

In Part 2 of this Brazil roundup, we’ll delve into Brazilian cattle production systems, along with economics, infrastructure, and the environment/ecosystems that impact Brazil’s position in the global beef marketplace.

“Mara” to the rescue?

Last June, news broke that one-third ownership of Viatina-19 FIV Mara Imóveis was sold at auction for $1.44 million (USD). The record-breaking sale of the stunning Brazilian Nelore cow drew worldwide attention. But in a nation where beauty is central to its culture, Mara is more than iconic.

The cow represents the frontline of Nelore cattle genetics. At 2,400 lb., she’s by far bigger and beefier than virtually any cow in Brazil. Mara’s superior fertility is already being exhibited in her offspring. This is good news in a country where improved bovine reproductive traits are sorely needed.

“She is the closest to perfection that has been attained so far. She’s a complete cow – has all the characteristics that all the proprietors are looking for,” her veterinarian Lorrany Martins said in a statement in the Guiness Book of World Records.

The question is if Mara’s genetic influence will flourish beyond the lush grasslands of her native state of Goiás – and the pampered lifestyle she enjoys. Time will tell how her offspring perform when exposed to the harsher climates and low-value forages of western Brazil, the northeastern cerrado and the sub-Amazon.