Reis: The Cattle of Brazil 



207 



of these new arrivals, supposed to 

 regenerate the herds depreciated by- 

 centuries of lack of attention and care- 

 less intercrossing. 



NATIVE STOCK RUINED 



The finest junqueiras, the excellent 

 caracus that were able and are still 

 able to regenerate the cattle industry 

 of the Triangle, were dragged deeper 

 and deeper into ruin by hybridization 

 with half-bloods, with Niles and with 

 Chinas. The latter breed according 

 to some genetists is derived from the 

 Albion; by others its name is derived 

 simply from the old castilian word 

 Chino or China, which means mongrel; 

 by still others, its domain is said to be 

 ancient Asia. 



What, then, was the value of the 

 appearance in this mare magnum of 

 misfortune, of admirable , individual 

 types of these beautiful and useful 

 national breeds, if stockmen did not 

 know enough to utilize them by selec- 

 tion and line-breeding? In the greed 

 with which they sought salvation, they 

 looked only for a remedy with immediate 

 effects. Selection was slow, and perhaps 

 they did not wholly believe in the extra- 

 ordinary results accredited to it. 



The day of native cattle was about 

 over. Those fine representatives, jun- 

 queiras, caracus, curraleiros, etc., inured 

 to the environment, with good and fixed 

 qualities which could be transmitted 

 through successive generations, were 

 relegated to the background and gave 

 place to the zebu, which, like the Nile 

 and the China, reigned in majesty in 

 the vast and lush pastures of the 

 territories of Minas. 



Without the beautifiil and useful 

 qualities which ornamented our national 

 breeds, the zebu conquered them, for a 

 time, principally by its wonderful hardi- 

 ness and its aptitude in acclimating 

 itself to our native ranges — as if 400 

 years of abandon were not enough to 

 prove that our native stock had such a 

 hardiness, too! 



All native stock in the Triangle, 

 which has not yet been mixed with 

 Indian blood, is heavy, healthy, strong 

 in the yoke and resistant to diseases, 

 gentle and rich in milk. In spite of 



the neglect to which they have been 

 subjected, it is not rare to find specimens 

 of our native breed — that breed which 

 R. Endlich has called the finest cattle 

 in the world — with a weight of 100 arro- 

 bas (i. e., 3200 pounds), and magnificent 

 caracus, such as beat the record at the 

 exposition held in Uberaba, where 

 hardly fifteen specimens of this breed, 

 raised locally, were shown, as against 

 400 Indian cattle, coddled in succulent 

 pastures under the vigilant eyes of 

 their owners. 



INTRODUCTION OF THE ZEBU 



Aside from weight, the caracii is 

 reputed an excellent worker, and is 

 considered to be the best bull for work — 

 superior to the zebu. However, the 

 breeder of the Triangle, in spite of the 

 unhappy experiments made with the 

 best European races and the evils 

 occasioned by crossing with Niles and 

 Chinas, as we have already seen, dis- 

 regarding his own home breed, intro- 

 duced for the first time in 1889 repre- 

 sentatives of Bos indicus, the idol of the 

 banks of the Ganges, to the pastures 

 of the future stock breeding zone of 

 Minas Geraes. 



It must be admitted that the crossing 

 of this race has brought a certain pros- 

 perity to the breeding industry in the 

 Triangle of Minas, since the grades 

 have been sold for good prices. For- 

 getting, perhaps, the results obtained 

 with crossing other breeds in the past, 

 the breeders, encouraged by the good 

 returns of this new venture, think that 

 they have attained the desired end in 

 regard to the perfecting of a breed for 

 local use, and are now gathering the 

 first fruits of the harvest like the 

 victors of a crusade. 



It is yet too early for this. 



Questioning one of the largest breeders 

 of this region as to the reason for himself 

 and other breeders preferring the zebu 

 to any other race, he replied as follows: 

 "This region being essentially one 

 for stock raising, and our ranges being 

 occupied by various breeds of milch 

 cattle in a state of degeneracy, we hope 

 to improve the present state of affairs 

 through crossing. We prefer to attempt 

 this by means of the zebu, because we 



