Reis: The Cattle of Brazil 



211 



to change the leadership of their herds. 



Imagine the results of crosses between 

 the hybrids I 



The products of the first cross between 

 zebus and junqueiras or caraciis are the 

 best types. They are strong, heavy 

 animals with great hardiness under all 

 conditions, thrive on any kind of pasture 

 and are excellent under yoke. 



As to the quality of the beef, current 

 opinion is that it does not lend itself 

 well to the dried-beef industry, because 

 its tissues do not contain as inuch fat 

 as do those of the caracu and other 

 good races. 



The flesh of the zebu is fibrous, 

 particularly when there is only a small 

 amount of native Brazilian blood in 

 the crosses.^ 



For this reason, and also because of 

 what has previoush' been said, the 

 flesh of the Indian cattle is of poorer 

 flavor than that of our breeds — espe- 

 cially that of the franqueiro race, which 

 R. Endlich claims is the best producer 

 of high grade beef. The zebu has not 

 a large skeleton — particularly hybrids 

 with Nellore blood. Steers from the 

 crossing of this race with the two 

 superior native races at four years 

 attain an average weight of 700 pounds. 

 The hybrids of greater proportion of 

 zebu blood are much lighter — an indis- 

 putable proof of the speedy degeneracy 

 of Bos indicits. 



LOSS OF MILK YIELD 



In general the crossing of the zebu 

 with our cattle makes the latter lose a 

 large part of its milk producing qualities. 

 The first period of lactation of the hybrid 

 zebus is at the most ninety days after 

 the birth of the calf; from then on, due 

 to the new gestation, the cow commences 

 to diminish in milk considerably, having 

 weaned her calf at six months. As for 

 the annual production of milk, it is 

 difficult to determine it in these grade 



cattle, because of the reasons already 

 set forth and because zebu breeders in 

 the Triangle pay little attention to 

 matters connected with dairying. 



The hybrid zebus in general are bad 

 milkers, and rarely allow themselves to 

 be milked. They are wild, and if 

 tamed at their first calving, soon lose 

 this domesticity and have to be tamed 

 again at each cahnng. 



This is a laborious proceeding which 

 completely prevents dairying if the 

 cattle are of Indian blood. 



Many hybrid zebus have the yield of 

 milk so little developed that they are 

 unable to raise their own offspring. 

 This is, then, outside of the defects such 

 as wildness, rapid degeneration and 

 lack of milk, a serious defect that this 

 race is instilling in our native cattle. 



We must take strong measures to 

 oppose this steady ruin of our native 

 cattle, which is fast becoming a race of 

 scrubs through indiscriminate cross- 

 breeding without scientific guidance. 



It is an interesting phenomenon. 



Withal, if the crosses between grades 

 should result in a fixed race, without the 

 incon\'eniences of frequent reversions 

 and without having to commence breed- 

 ing operations from the beginning, all 

 over again, every few generations, the 

 Indian cattle would be good types both 

 for commerce and for beefing, par- 

 ticularly having in view the great 

 distances that separate the pastoral 

 zones of Goyaz and Matto Grosso from 

 the littoral, where the cattle are 

 slaughtered. 



But the solution of this problem 

 seems to us very difficult in such a 

 manner — particularly with this stock. 



The reasonable, certain, and economic 

 solution is that which our government 

 is trying to give to the case — founding 

 establishments to carry on systematic 

 selection with our marvelous native 

 races of cattle. 



3 Murdo Mackenzie of the Brazil Land, Cattle and Packing Co., Sao Paulo, writes me: "A 

 characteristic of the zebu is that it produces almost entirely dark meat with little or no fat mixed 

 with it, and this is the kind of beef the natives prefer, but it is not suitable for exporting to Europe 

 or America. You will notice from the conformation of the zebu's head that it is lacking in brain 

 development. It is narrow between the eyes and has a long, narrow, keen head and face, which 

 shows that it has not the brain development of either the Shorthorn, Hereford or the other beef 

 breeds. The natives of this country are fond of the zebu hybrids because they are good travelers, 

 and as nearly all of the cattle are transported on foot, this seems to be quite a factor to their minds. 

 When the cattlemen of this country commence transporting their cattle by rail rather than by 

 foot thev will see the necessitv of breeding cattle for better beef." — The Editor. 



