Brazil Part 4 - Beef

Beef is a major factor in Brazil agriculture.  With 205 million head of cattle and a growing national herd, they are the second largest beef producing country in the world and have the second largest cattle herd in the world.  They have the capability to produce even more too; with their low cost of production, year round pasture and ample land resources combined with the research happening on native and African grass,  I don’t think we have seen all that Brazil can do just yet.

Brazilians are also meat eaters and keep about 80% of their production for the domestic market, that is a lot of beef and why I laughed when I saw the “Go Vegan” graffiti in the city of Brasilia.  I think whoever wrote that has a lot of work to do if they want to start that movement.  

Brazil has a national traceability system although it is very different than what I have previously seen.  Their system is not based around tags or super databases, they track only numbers and vaccinations done.  Once calves are vaccinated they are recorded in the national database and the sex and the number of head done are recorded.  This gets added to the farm’s inventory.  When animals are sold to another farm or to the processor, a manifest type paper is produced or created to show how many head of each sex is sold.  This information is entered by the receiver and those cattle are removed from the inventory.

The system is computerized and the updates are done in the state database and then uploaded to the federal system.  It seems to work quite efficiently and there are only really problems when animals are brought in of a certain age group that don’t match what the farm should have in inventory.  Farmers also have to sign a affidavit if they are selling to a plant that is exporting beef to ensure that certain protocols have been followed on the farm.  The industry and government know where all the cattle come from at any time and and have an excellent handle on the size and age of the national cow herd.

Grading Station

They also have a grading system in place but it doesn’t factor in quality.  There are three classes and the hot carcass weight taken minutes after harvest is all that is used to determine the grade.  Often producers will gather at the processing plant to watch their animals go across the scale to ensure that the plant is fairly recording the weights.  It is a very interesting system and the sheer size of it is hard to wrap my head around.  It may be a commodity product but I have seen some branded programs including product on the grocery shelf from the Brazil Angus Association’s own beef program.  The steakhouse I visited also was quick to point out an Angus product for me when they noticed by Canadian Angus Rancher Endorsed shirt.

Mark of an elite animal in the Nelore breed.