[ti:Brazilian Ranchers: World's Costliest Cow Is 'The Best']
[al:As It Is]
[ar:VOA]
[dt:2024-06-14]
[by:www.voase.cn]
[00:00.00]The Brazilian ranchers who own the world's most costly cow call her Viatina-19.
[00:08.19]The large, white cow is valued at over $4 million.
[00:15.02]At 1,100 kilograms, she is about two times the weight of most cows of her kind.
[00:24.49]Viatina-19 is protected by security cameras and a guard with a gun on the ranch in Uberaba, a town in the central Minas Gerais state. 
[00:41.08]Her owners will not sell her for meat, but they hope Viatina-19 can be the start of a long line of "supercows."
[00:53.58]Those cows will go on to have calves, or baby cattle. 
[01:00.71]As time goes by, many of Viatina-19's relatives will be raised for meat.
[01:10.58]Any rancher who wants to buy one of Viatina-19's eggs must pay $250,000.
[01:21.03]They combine the egg with the reproductive cells, or sperm, of a top bull hoping the resulting animal will be the start of a ranch filled with valuable cattle.
[01:38.86]Viatina-19 and the other cows and bulls are considered "elite," or among the very best in the world.
[01:51.08]"We're not slaughtering elite cattle. We're breeding them. 
[01:56.56]And at the end of the line, going to feed the whole world," one of her owners, Ney Pereira, said.
[02:05.25]Viatina-19 is elite because she quickly puts on muscle and size. 
[02:14.72]Lorrany Martins is an animal doctor and Pereira's daughter. 
[02:21.44]She said many of the cows that have come from her genetic line have done the same.
[02:29.39]"She is the closest to perfection that has been attained so far," she said.
[02:36.45]Since the early 2000s, cattle ranching has grown into one of Brazil's top industries. 
[02:44.53]There is even a cow channel on the Globo television network. 
[02:49.33]The nation carries out high-level research into the genetics of cattle and it does more in-vitro, or laboratory, fertilizations than any other country.
[03:02.58]Viatina-19 is an example of Brazil's success in the beef industry. 
[03:10.08]She has three owners now. 
[03:13.09]The most recent owner joined the other two at a cost of $1.3 million. 
[03:20.45]Guinness World Records said that partial sale was the most ever for a cow.
[03:28.28]About 80 percent of the cattle in Brazil are from the Zebus subspecies, a sort of cow that first came from India.
[03:39.33]Viatina-19 is part of the Nelore breed within the Zebus group. 
[03:46.32]Most of the cows in Brazil are Nelore.
[03:50.25]The cows from India came to Brazil in the late part of the 1800s. 
[03:57.44]The cows did better in the hot climate than those who came from Europe.
[04:03.87]Brazil exported more than 2 million tons of beef in both 2022 and 2023.
[04:11.91]Much of the beef goes to nations like China, whose economies have grown in recent years.
[04:19.48]Agriculture and cattle ranching are important in Brazil. 
[04:24.97]The country has 230 million cattle. President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva wants new markets for his country's products.
[04:40.71]Last month, he met with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida. 
[04:47.27]Japan produces the famous Wagyu beef.
[04:52.05]But Lula invited the Japanese leader to taste Brazilian beef on his next visit.
[05:00.59]In April, Lula's tour of Brazilian beef continued. 
[05:05.99]He visited one of the 38 meat processing centers in his country that are authorized by China.
[05:15.13]He said Brazil will bring in billions of dollars by selling beef to China.
[05:21.68]Lula also said Brazil's beef industry is free of foot-and-mouth disease, which affects cattle.
[05:30.48]The World Organization for Animal Health might recognize Brazil's status in August.
[05:38.24]Every year, Uberaba has an event called ExpoZebu.
[05:44.56]It is the world's largest festival for Zebu cattle. 
[05:49.58]People wear clothes associated with rural America - baseball caps, boots and blue jeans. 
[05:57.93]They listen to country music that started in the United States.
[06:03.53]Ranchers come from all around the world, including Indonesia and Zimbabwe, for the cattle show. 
[06:12.13]The biggest auction is Elo de Raça.
[06:16.77]This year, it took place on April 28. 
[06:20.83]One rancher in attendance was Arthur Lira, a well-known congressman in Brazil. 
[06:29.15]He planned to sell a 3-month-old calf.
[06:32.83]He said the auctions "present the best of what each person has."
[06:38.73]When the cows are sold, their genetics move around the country and around the world.
[06:46.32]Some of the cows shown at the event are clones - that means they are genetic copies of other cows.
[06:55.68]One such cow is Donna. She was at the show with three clones.
[07:03.37]The four cows were purchased for $3 million because they produce so many eggs.
[07:10.86]The announcer called them "a factory."
[07:14.93]Cows like Donna and Viatina-19 are cloned in a building not far from the auction area. 
[07:23.38]Scientists take the cows' DNA from their tail hair and use it to create genetic copies. 
[07:32.02]The DNA is used to create embryos and they are put in the uteruses of surrogate mothers.
[07:39.98]Paulo Cerantola is a director with a genetic company called Geneal Animal Genetics and Biotechnology. 
[07:51.31]He said the surrogates are "rental bellies."
[07:56.00]There are about 500 of them in a field.
[08:00.42]Not all of the calves will survive, he said.
[08:04.10]Some will have to be killed because of genetic problems.
[08:08.03]Cerantola said clones of Viatina-19 are to be born soon.
[08:16.65]Grant Vassberg is a rancher from Texas who has visited Brazilian auctions.
[08:24.81]He said even if the famous cows produce lots of children and lots of clones, there are problems.
[08:33.96]He said Viatina-19 is "poison for the industry."
[08:39.44]"We still need cows to be efficient on grass," he said.
[08:44.16]"That's how you feed the world."
[08:47.32]Pereira, however, said that Viatina-19 only gets special treatment to increase the production of egg cells.
[08:59.16]He said she would do well if she just lived like other cows.
[09:05.32]Pereira and his daughter are still working to spread Viatina-19's DNA around the world. 
[09:14.79]Her egg cells have been sold to ranchers in Bolivia and he wants to sell them in the Middle East and the U.S.
[09:25.19]"If she is the best in the world...we need to share her around the world," he said.
[09:33.19]I'm Dan Friedell.
[09:35.62]And I'm Gena Bennett.