![Bovinos no campo](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8e/Bovinos_no_campo.jpg)
In Brazil, the lords of Casa da Torre de Garcia d'Avila pioneered the livestock industry, often using indigenous labor as cowboys. However, a great drought in the Northeast and the discovery of precious minerals in
Minas Gerais
Minas Gerais () is a state in Southeastern Brazil. It ranks as the second most populous, the third by gross domestic product (GDP), and the fourth largest by area in the country. The state's capital and largest city, Belo Horizonte (literally ...
at the end of the 18th century moved the cattle ranch in Brazil to the Southeast and South, more specifically
São Paulo
São Paulo (, ; Portuguese for ' Saint Paul') is the most populous city in Brazil, and is the capital of the state of São Paulo, the most populous and wealthiest Brazilian state, located in the country's Southeast Region. Listed by the Ga ...
and
Rio Grande do Sul.
In 2017, the flocks in Brazil were of the following order: 1,425,699,944
birds, with 242,767,457
chicken
The chicken (''Gallus gallus domesticus'') is a domesticated junglefowl species, with attributes of wild species such as the grey and the Ceylon junglefowl that are originally from Southeastern Asia. Rooster or cock is a term for an adu ...
and 15,473,981
quail
Quail is a collective name for several genera of mid-sized birds generally placed in the order Galliformes. The collective noun for a group of quail is a flock, covey, or bevy.
Old World quail are placed in the family Phasianidae, and New ...
; 214,899,796
cattle
Cattle (''Bos taurus'') are large, domesticated, cloven-hooved, herbivores. They are a prominent modern member of the subfamily Bovinae and the most widespread species of the genus ''Bos''. Adult females are referred to as cows and adult ma ...
, 41,099,460
pigs
The pig (''Sus domesticus''), often called swine, hog, or domestic pig when distinguishing from other members of the genus '' Sus'', is an omnivorous, domesticated, even-toed, hoofed mammal. It is variously considered a subspecies of ''Sus ...
, 17,976,367
sheep
Sheep or domestic sheep (''Ovis aries'') are domesticated, ruminant mammals typically kept as livestock. Although the term ''sheep'' can apply to other species in the genus '' Ovis'', in everyday usage it almost always refers to domesticated ...
, 9,592,079
goats
The goat or domestic goat (''Capra hircus'') is a domesticated species of goat-antelope typically kept as livestock. It was domesticated from the wild goat (''C. aegagrus'') of Southwest Asia and Eastern Europe. The goat is a member of th ...
and 1,381,395
buffaloes, in addition to 5,501,872
equine
Equinae is a subfamily of the family Equidae, which have lived worldwide (except Indonesia and Australia) from the Hemingfordian stage of the Early Miocene (16 million years ago) onwards. They are thought to be a monophyletic grouping.B. J. Ma ...
.
Cattle
Brazil is the holder of the second largest herd of cattle in the world, 22.2% of the world herd, behind only India, which does not produce them for consumption. The country was also the second largest producer of beef, responsible for 15.4% of global production. The United States (the world's largest producer), Brazil and the European Union, together, accounted for almost half of all meat produced in the world in 2016. In 2016 Brazilian beef exports in natura totaled 1.08 million tons with a value of R $4.35 billion.
The Brazilian cattle herd had 218.23 million head in 2016. The main cattle ranching center in Brazil is the state of
Mato Grosso, the largest cattle herd in Brazil. In 2016, the
Central-West Region had 34.4% of the national total. The
North Region registered 47.98 million head of cattle, the second largest in the country. Mato Grosso was the state with the largest cattle herd, housing 13.9% of the Brazilian total. At the time, the state had 30.30 million head of cattle.
Minas Gerais
Minas Gerais () is a state in Southeastern Brazil. It ranks as the second most populous, the third by gross domestic product (GDP), and the fourth largest by area in the country. The state's capital and largest city, Belo Horizonte (literally ...
,
Goiás
Goiás () is a Brazilian state located in the Center-West region. Goiás borders the Federal District and the states of (from north clockwise) Tocantins, Bahia, Minas Gerais, Mato Grosso do Sul and Mato Grosso. The state capital is Goi ...
and
Mato Grosso do Sul contributed 10.8%, 10.5% and 10.0% of the national staff, respectively. At the municipal level, the largest numbers were located in
São Félix do Xingu
São Félix do Xingu is a municipality in the state of Pará in the Northern region of Brazil.
The city is served by São Félix do Xingu Airport.
With an area of ,
it is the third largest municipality in Pará and the sixth large ...
(PA),
Corumbá
Corumbá is a municipality in the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso do Sul, 425 km northwest of Campo Grande, the state's capital. It has a population of approximately 112,000 inhabitants, and its economy is based mainly on agriculture, anima ...
(MS),
Ribas do Rio Pardo
Ribas do Rio Pardo is a municipality located in the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso do Sul
Mato Grosso do Sul () is one of the Midwestern states of Brazil. Neighboring Brazilian states are (from north clockwise) Mato Grosso, Goiás, Minas Gerais, ...
(MS),
Cáceres (MT) and
Marabá (PA). Among the 20 municipalities with the largest herd, 13 were located in the Midwest, six in the North, and one in the South of the country.
Brazil in 2018 was the 3rd largest world producer of milk, behind only the United States and India. This year, the country produced 35.1 billion liters.
The
South region holds the first place in the ranking in Brazilian
milk
Milk is a white liquid food produced by the mammary glands of mammals. It is the primary source of nutrition for young mammals (including breastfed human infants) before they are able to digest solid food. Immune factors and immune-modula ...
production. The South has 35.7%, competing with the Southeast (which was the largest producer until 2014), which has 34.2%. The Southeast has the largest herd of milked cows: 30.4% of the total of 17.1 million existing in Brazil. The highest productivity, however, is that of the South Region, with an average of 3,284 liters per cow per year, which is why it leads the ranking of milk production since 2015. The municipality of
Castro, in
Paraná, was the largest producer in 2017, with 264 million liters of milk. Paraná is already the second largest national producer with 4.7 billion liters, second only to Minas Gerais.
Minas Gerais
Minas Gerais () is a state in Southeastern Brazil. It ranks as the second most populous, the third by gross domestic product (GDP), and the fourth largest by area in the country. The state's capital and largest city, Belo Horizonte (literally ...
is the main milk producing state in Brazil, with the largest number of milked cows, responsible for 26.6% of production and 20.0% of total milking animals. The municipality of
Patos de Minas
Patos de Minas is a municipality in the state of Minas Gerais in Brazil.
Geography
According to the modern (2017) geographic classification by Brazil's National Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE), the city is the main municipality in ...
was the 2nd largest producer in 2017, with 191.3 million liters of milk. In 2015, the state produced 9.1 billion liters of milk.
Pigs
![Jaborá SC Granja Adelir Antônio Calegari](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e8/Jabor%C3%A1_SC_Granja_Adelir_Ant%C3%B4nio_Calegari.jpg)
In 2019, Brazil was the 4th largest pork producer in the world, with almost 4 million tons, after China, the European Union and the United States.
For
pork
Pork is the culinary name for the meat of the domestic pig (''Sus domesticus''). It is the most commonly consumed meat worldwide, with evidence of pig husbandry dating back to 5000 BCE.
Pork is eaten both freshly cooked and preserved; ...
, the three southern states are the largest producers in the country. Brazil had 41.1 million head in 2017.
Santa Catarina is the largest producer in Brazil, with 19.7% of the Brazilian total. The state is responsible for 28.38% of the country's slaughter and for 40.28% of Brazilian pork exports. Paraná (17.2%) and Rio Grande do Sul (14.6%) are the 2nd and 3rd largest producers.
Toledo (PR),
Rio Verde (GO) and
Uberlândia
Uberlândia () is a municipality in the state of Minas Gerais, southeastern Brazil. It is the second largest municipality in the state of Minas Gerais after the state capital Belo Horizonte. Its population in 2020 was 699,097, making it the fo ...
(MG) are the cities with the highest numbers of pigs.
Poultry
![Avicultura em Santa Catarina](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b6/Avicultura_em_Santa_Catarina.JPG)
Brazil is the world's largest exporter of
chicken meat
Chicken is the most common type of poultry in the world. Owing to the relative ease and low cost of raising chickens—in comparison to mammals such as cattle or hogs—chicken meat (commonly called just "chicken") and chicken eggs have becom ...
: 3.77 million tons in 2019.
The Brazilian
poultry
Poultry () are domesticated birds kept by humans for their eggs, their meat or their feathers. These birds are most typically members of the superorder Galloanserae (fowl), especially the order Galliformes (which includes chickens, quails, ...
flock, in 2018, was of the order of 1.5 billion heads. Poultry flocks, according to IBGE, include chickens, roosters, hens and chicks. In 2018, the
South region, with emphasis on the creation of broilers, was responsible for almost half of the Brazilian total (46.9%).
Paraná alone accounted for 26.2%. The situation is reversed, however, when it comes to chickens. The first region in the ranking was the Southeast, with 38.9% of the country's total head. A total of 246.9 million hens were estimated for 2018. The state of
São Paulo
São Paulo (, ; Portuguese for ' Saint Paul') is the most populous city in Brazil, and is the capital of the state of São Paulo, the most populous and wealthiest Brazilian state, located in the country's Southeast Region. Listed by the Ga ...
was responsible for 21.9%. Santa Maria de Jetibá (ES) was the municipality that had the largest numbers of both poultry and hens. For the ranking of chickens came Cascavel (PR), Bastos (SP), Rio Verde (GO) and Uberlândia (MG). The ranking of municipalities for chickens is completed by Bastos (SP), Primavera do Leste (MT), São Bento do Una (PE) and Itanhandu (MG). In 2017, the main poultry producing states were Paraná (25.3%), São Paulo (14.0%), Rio Grande do Sul (11.0%), Santa Catarina (10.8%). In terms of
chicken
The chicken (''Gallus gallus domesticus'') is a domesticated junglefowl species, with attributes of wild species such as the grey and the Ceylon junglefowl that are originally from Southeastern Asia. Rooster or cock is a term for an adu ...
s, in 2017 there were 242.8 million heads: Southeast (38.7%) and South (26.0%), the largest producers. Among the states, São Paulo led with 21.9%, followed by Paraná (10.1%), Rio Grande do Sul (8.8%), Minas Gerais (8.7%) and Espírito Santo (7.9%).
In 2016, Brazil was the seventh largest egg producer in the world.
Brazilian production of chicken
eggs was 4.4 billion dozens in 2018, generating an income of R $14.0 billion. The
Southeast Region had 43.8% of this total. The South comes in 2nd place, with approximately 24% of production. The state of São Paulo was the largest national producer (25.6%). Paraná comes in 2nd place with approximately 10%. Among the municipalities, the largest producers are the cities of Santa Maria de Jetibá (ES), Bastos (SP) and Primavera do Leste (MT).
In 2018, the Brazilian population of
quail
Quail is a collective name for several genera of mid-sized birds generally placed in the order Galliformes. The collective noun for a group of quail is a flock, covey, or bevy.
Old World quail are placed in the family Phasianidae, and New ...
s was 16.8 million birds. The Southeast is responsible for 64%. São Paulo (24.6%) and Espírito Santo (21.0%) are the largest producers. In the municipal ranking, Santa Maria de Jetibá (ES) occupies the first position both in the quantity of animals and in the production of eggs. Bastos (SP) was in second position.
Goats and sheep
![Carneiros 2](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/66/Carneiros_2.JPG)
The
Northeast Region housed 93.2% of the goat herd (8,944,461 heads) and 64.2% of the sheep herd (11,544,939 heads) in 2017.
Bahia
Bahia ( , , ; meaning "bay") is one of the 26 states of Brazil, located in the Northeast Region of the country. It is the fourth-largest Brazilian state by population (after São Paulo, Minas Gerais, and Rio de Janeiro) and the 5th-largest b ...
concentrated 30.9% of the goat herd and 20,9% of the national sheep herd.
Casa Nova
Casa Nova is a municipality in the state of Bahia in the North-East region of Brazil.
See also
*List of municipalities in Bahia
This is a list of the municipalities in the state of Bahia (BA), located in the Northeast Region of Brazil. Bah ...
(BA) took first place in the municipal ranking with the largest numbers of both species. The
South region was the 2nd largest in the country in the herd of sheep, with 4.2 million heads. Sheep shearing activity remained predominant in the South, which is responsible for 99% of
wool
Wool is the textile fibre obtained from sheep and other mammals, especially goats, rabbits, and camelids. The term may also refer to inorganic materials, such as mineral wool and glass wool, that have properties similar to animal wool. ...
production in the country.
Rio Grande do Sul continued to be the state with the largest national participation, representing 94.1% of the total. The municipalities of
Santana do Livramento
Santana do Livramento is a city in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. It is located along the border with the city of Rivera, Uruguay, forming together an international city of almost 170,000 inhabitants. Santana do Livramento was founded on ...
,
Alegrete and
Quaraí
Quarai is a Brazilian municipality located near the border with Uruguay on the Rio Quaraí. The population is 22,607 (2020 est.) in an area of 3,147.63 km2, making it one of the largest municipalities in the state. Its elevation is 112 m. It ...
led the activity. Currently, meat production has become the main objective of sheep farming in Rio Grande do Sul, due to the increase in prices paid to the producer that made the activity more attractive and profitable. There, sheep breeds more adapted to the subtropical climate are used.
In 2016, Brazil had a goat herd of almost 9.8 million heads. The country has the 21st largest herd in the world. However, the Brazilian herd is mostly found in an area with unfavorable climatic conditions (in the semi-arid region of the Northeast), and goat farming is rarely seen as a business activity and is often considered a marginal activity, used only for survival, not on a commercial scale.
Pisciculture
In
fish farming
upright=1.3, Salmon farming in the sea (mariculture) at Loch Ainort, Isle of Skye">mariculture.html" ;"title="Salmon farming in the sea (mariculture">Salmon farming in the sea (mariculture) at Loch Ainort, Isle of Skye, Scotland
Fish farming or ...
, western
Paraná, in municipalities close to
Toledo and
Cascavel
Cascavel is a municipality in the state of Paraná in Brazil. It is the fifth most populous city in the state with 332,333 residents, according to IBGE, a government agency. The distance to Curitiba, the state capital, is 491 kilometers by f ...
, became the largest fish producing region in the country, with
tilapia
Tilapia ( ) is the common name for nearly a hundred species of cichlid fish from the coelotilapine, coptodonine, heterotilapine, oreochromine, pelmatolapiine, and tilapiine tribes (formerly all were "Tilapiini"), with the economically most ...
as the main cultivated species. The west represents 69% of all production in Paraná, the largest national producer, with 112 thousand tons. Of this amount, 91% refer to tilapia breeding.
The country's fish production totaled 485.2 thousand tons in 2017. Paraná (20.2%), São Paulo (9.8%) and Rondônia (8.2%) had the largest participation. The city of
Nova Aurora led the national production.
Tilapia
Tilapia ( ) is the common name for nearly a hundred species of cichlid fish from the coelotilapine, coptodonine, heterotilapine, oreochromine, pelmatolapiine, and tilapiine tribes (formerly all were "Tilapiini"), with the economically most ...
, with 283.2 thousand tons, represented 58.4% of fish farming.
Tambaqui, with 18.2%, is the second most created species. The North Region is the largest producer of tambaqui.
The production of
shrimp in Brazil was 41.0 thousand tons in 2017.
Rio Grande do Norte
Rio Grande do Norte (, , ) is one of the states of Brazil. It is located in the northeastern region of the country, forming the northeasternmost tip of the South American continent. The name literally translates as "Great Northern River", re ...
(37.7%) and
Ceará (28.9%) were the largest producers.
Aracati
Aracati () is a city or municipality in the state of Ceará, in the northeast region of Brazil. The city was officially founded on April 11, 1747. It is part of the microregion of Litoral de Aracati, which is one of the four microregions that ma ...
, in
Ceará, was the city with the largest participation.
The production of
oysters,
scallops
Scallop () is a common name that encompasses various species of Marine (ocean), marine bivalve mollusc, mollusks in the Taxonomy (biology), taxonomic Family (biology), family Pectinidae, the scallops. However, the common name "scallop" is also s ...
and
mussels
Mussel () is the common name used for members of several families of bivalve molluscs, from saltwater and freshwater habitats. These groups have in common a shell whose outline is elongated and asymmetrical compared with other edible clams, which ...
was 20.9 thousand tons in 2017. Santa Catarina has 98.1% of the national production.
Palhoça
Palhoça is a municipality in Santa Catarina, Brazil.
History
Palhoça was founded in 1793, when the city was part of the way between Lages and Florianópolis in order to protect the capital state from possible invasions. Its name comes from ...
,
Florianópolis and
Bombinhas were the municipalities with the highest production.
Honey
In 2017, Brazil was the 11th largest producer of honey in the world, with less than 4.0% of global exports of the product. 41.6 thousand tons were produced, 16.5 thousand tons in the South Region.
The
South region was the main
honey
Honey is a sweet and viscous substance made by several bees, the best-known of which are honey bees. Honey is made and stored to nourish bee colonies. Bees produce honey by gathering and then refining the sugary secretions of plants (primar ...
producer in the country in 2017, accounting for 39.7% of the national total.
Rio Grande do Sul was the 1st with 15.2%,
Paraná in 2nd with 14.3%, Santa Catarina in 5th with 10.2%.
Buffaloes
In 2016, the Brazilian herd of
buffaloes was 1.37 million head. The
North Region concentrated 66.2% of buffalo farming, while the remainder was distributed between the Southeast (12.7%), Northeast (9.5%), South (7.4%) and Central-West (4,4%).
Pará
Pará is a state of Brazil, located in northern Brazil and traversed by the lower Amazon River. It borders the Brazilian states of Amapá, Maranhão, Tocantins, Mato Grosso, Amazonas and Roraima. To the northwest are the borders of Guyana ...
was responsible for 37.9%, followed by
Amapá (21.6%), representing together 89.9% of the herd in the North Region and 59.5% of the national herd. Of the ten municipalities with the largest numbers, six are in Pará and four in Amapá. In municipal terms, the first position was with the Municipality of Chaves (PA), with 160.85 thousand animals, followed by
Cutias
Cutias (Portuguese: ''Município de Cutias do Araguari''), formally known as Cutias do Araguari (), is a municipality located in the southeast of the state of Amapá in Brazil. Its population is 6,101 and its area is . The name of the municipalit ...
(AP) and
Soure (PA).
In
Minas Gerais
Minas Gerais () is a state in Southeastern Brazil. It ranks as the second most populous, the third by gross domestic product (GDP), and the fourth largest by area in the country. The state's capital and largest city, Belo Horizonte (literally ...
, there has been an increase in the production of buffaloes for meat and dairy production, mainly
mozzarella
Mozzarella (, ; nap, muzzarella ) is a southern Italian cheese traditionally made from Italian buffalo's milk by the pasta filata method.
Fresh mozzarella is generally white but when seasoned it turns to a light yellow depending on the anim ...
made with buffalo milk.
Raniculture
In 2016, Brazil was considered the 2nd largest
frog
A frog is any member of a diverse and largely carnivorous group of short-bodied, tailless amphibians composing the order Anura (ανοὐρά, literally ''without tail'' in Ancient Greek). The oldest fossil "proto-frog" ''Triadobatrachus'' is ...
breeder in the world, second only to Taiwan. However, it is small-scale, without even precise data about the quantity produced: the last official survey cited 160 tons per year, but some say that this number is three times higher. Because the price of a kilo of frog meat is high, consumption is reduced and reserved for a very few people. Frog meat is easy to digest, has high nutritional value, low fat content and low
cholesterol
Cholesterol is any of a class of certain organic molecules called lipids. It is a sterol (or modified steroid), a type of lipid. Cholesterol is biosynthesized by all animal cells and is an essential structural component of animal cell mem ...
, and also is considered a gastronomic delicacy. Some nutritionists consider frog meat to be the best protein available for consumption.
Duck
In Brazil,
duck
Duck is the common name for numerous species of waterfowl in the family Anatidae. Ducks are generally smaller and shorter-necked than swans and geese, which are members of the same family. Divided among several subfamilies, they are a form ...
meat production is concentrated in
Santa Catarina. It is low-volume, aimed at a
niche market. In 2015 the country exported US$7,637 million of this meat, mainly to Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and Japan. At the time, the largest company in the region specializing in this meat slaughtered about 10,000 ducks a day.
Produtores trocam frangos por patos
/ref>
See also
* Agriculture in Brazil
The agriculture of Brazil is historically one of the principal bases of Brazil's economy. While its initial focus was on sugarcane, Brazil eventually became the world's largest exporter of coffee, soybeans, beef, and crop-based ethanol.
The ...
References
{{Economy of Brazil
Animal husbandry by country
Economy of São Paulo (state)
Economy of Rio Grande do Sul