The Caracu is a Brazilian

breed A breed is a specific group of domestic animals having homogeneous appearance (phenotype), homogeneous behavior, and/or other characteristics that distinguish it from other organisms of the same species. In literature, there exist several slig ...

beef cattle Beef cattle are cattle raised for meat production (as distinguished from dairy cattle, used for milk production). The meat of mature or almost mature cattle is mostly known as beef. In beef production there are three main stages: cow-calf operat ...

. It is a

Criollo Criollo or criolla (Spanish for creole) may refer to: People * Criollo people, a social class in the Spanish race-based colonial caste system (the European descendants) Animals * Criollo duck, a species of duck native to Central and South Ameri ...

breed, derived from European cattle brought to Brazil by the

conquistador Conquistadors (, ) or conquistadores (, ; meaning 'conquerors') were the explorer-soldiers of the Spanish and Portuguese Empires of the 15th and 16th centuries. During the Age of Discovery, conquistadors sailed beyond Europe to the Americas, O ...

s; it has little or no

zebu The zebu (; ''Bos indicus'' or ''Bos taurus indicus''), sometimes known in the plural as indicine cattle or humped cattle, is a species or subspecies of domestic cattle originating in the Indian sub-continent. Zebu are characterised by a fatty ...

ine influence. It was originally a triple-purpose breed, used for

draught work A working animal is an animal, usually domesticated, that is kept by humans and trained to perform tasks instead of being slaughtered to harvest animal products. Some are used for their physical strength (e.g. oxen and draft horses) or for t ...

and transport, for

meat Meat is animal flesh that is eaten as food. Humans have hunted, farmed, and scavenged animals for meat since prehistoric times. The establishment of settlements in the Neolithic Revolution allowed the domestication of animals such as chic ...

and for milk; in the twenty-first century it is reared principally for beef, but there are also dairy lines. It has contributed to the development of a number of other breeds, among them the Caldeano. It is closely similar to the

Mocho Nacional Mocho Nacional is a beef cattle breed created in Brazil during the 20th century. It is polled; ''Mocho Nacional'' means "national polled" in Portuguese. Like the Caracu, it is a European-origin breed, not Zebu The zebu (; ''Bos indicus'' or ...

, a polled breed, and it is probable that the two will be merged.

History

The Caracu derives from cattle brought from Portugal to Brazil by the

s from 1532 onwards. It is not known of what type these were, but they may have been similar to the modern

Alentejana The Alentejana is a cattle breed from Portugal that was the main breed raised for meat in Southern Portugal historically. The Alentejana breed has the Protected Geographical Status, protected geographical status of Denominação de Origem Contr ...

Arouquesa The Arouquesa is a cattle breed from Portugal. The Arouquesa breed was granted protected geographical status of DOC (''Denominação de Origem Controlada'') from the European Commission Description The cows reach a height of , the bulls , so t ...

Barrosã The Barrosã is a cattle breed from Portugal. The Barrosã breed has the protected geographical status of DOC (''Denominação de Origem Controlada'') from the European Commission The European Commission (EC) is the executive of the European ...

, Minhota or Mirandesa breeds. The Caracu originated in the southern part of

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 ...

, and later spread into the

state State may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State * ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States * ''Our S ...

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 GaWC a ...

. An early description is that of Nicolas Athanassof in 1911. A

breed association Breed clubs are associations or clubs with activities centered on a single, specific breed of a particular species of domesticated animal. The purpose of the association will vary with the species of animal and the goals and needs of the members o ...

, the , was formed in 1916. In 1913 an influential book by Eduardo Cotrim on cattle-rearing in Brazil, with many colour illustrations, was published in Brussels. It was highly critical of both Brazilian methods and Brazilian cattle, and may have initiated a decline in numbers of the Caracu, which fell steeply during much of the twentieth century as a result of

cross-breeding A crossbreed is an organism with purebred parents of two different breeds, varieties, or populations. ''Crossbreeding'', sometimes called "designer crossbreeding", is the process of breeding such an organism, While crossbreeding is used to main ...

with

zebuine The zebu (; ''Bos indicus'' or ''Bos taurus indicus''), sometimes known in the plural as indicine cattle or humped cattle, is a species or subspecies of domestic cattle originating in the Indian sub-continent. Zebu are characterised by a fatty h ...

or other

taurine Taurine (), or 2-aminoethanesulfonic acid, is an organic compound that is widely distributed in animal tissues. It is a major constituent of bile and can be found in the large intestine, and accounts for up to 0.1% of total human body weight. It ...

breeds, coming close to the point of

extinction Extinction is the termination of a kind of organism or of a group of kinds (taxon), usually a species. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last individual of the species, although the capacity to breed and ...

. In 1976 the Istituto de Zootecnia of

Sertãozinho Sertãozinho is a Brazilian municipality in the state of São Paulo. The population in 2020 was about 127,142. Its area is 403 km2. The municipality consists of Sertãozinho city and two districts: Cruz das Posses and Vila Garcia. Sertãozi ...

, in the state of São Paulo, added the Caracu to its research programme; in 1980 the breed association, which had been dormant since 1960, became active again. Numbers increased rapidly: from 12,000 in 1979, the population rose to about 31,000 head in 1994, and to over 85,000 in 2010. In 2020 the total number reported was just over 162,000.

References

{{Cattle breeds of Brazil Beef cattle breeds Cattle breeds originating in Brazil Cattle breeds