The Indu-Brasil or Indo-Brazilian 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 ...

of zebuine

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 opera ...

. It was bred in the early twentieth century in the

Triângulo Mineiro The Triângulo Mineiro (, '' Mineiro Triangle'') is the region that comprises the west part of the state of Minas Gerais, in Brazil. It occupies an area of 93,500 km2 (slightly larger than Portugal or Hungary) and is bordered to the east by Ser ...

in the western 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 (literall ...

state, and particularly in the area surrounding Uberaba. It was originally known as the Induberaba. It derives from imported Indian zebuine cattle, principally Gir and Kankrej (which in Brazil are known as "Guzerá"). It was formerly an important beef breed, but in the twenty-first century is an endangered breed. It is characterised by particularly large ears, perhaps the largest seen in any breed of cattle.

History

In 2017 a total population of 900 head was reported to the

DAD-IS DAD-IS is the acronym of the worldwide Domestic Animal Diversity Information System of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, within the FAO's management of animal genetic resources programme.Domestic Animal Diversity Infor ...

database of the

Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)french: link=no, Organisation des Nations unies pour l'alimentation et l'agriculture; it, Organizzazione delle Nazioni Unite per l'Alimentazione e l'Agricoltura is an intern ...

Characteristics

Indo-Brazilian cattle have good heat and parasite resistance and thrive in the tropics. They are white to dark grey in colour with short horns and very large ears. They have the typical Zebu shoulder hump.

Use

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

, until the 1940s, this was the most used

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 h ...

race, but since the 1950s,

Nelore Nelore or Nellore cattle originated from Ongole Cattle ('' Bos indicus'') cattle originally brought to Brazil from India. They are named after the district of Nellore in Andhra Pradesh state in India. The Nelore has a distinct large hump over ...

cattle have become more popular. Today, about 90% of Brazilian cattle meat production comes from

. In the 1940s bulls of this breed were sold to American farmers and used in producing

Brahman cattle The Brahman is an American breed of zebuine-taurine hybrid beef cattle. It was bred in the United States from 1885 from cattle originating in India, imported at various times from the United Kingdom, from India and from Brazil. These were mainly ...

References

Cattle breeds originating in Brazil Cattle breeds {{cattle-stub