Girolando cattle records take off from milk prices for the first time in history | Milk

The number of registrations of animals of the girolando zebu breed, suitable for meat, registered an increase of 4.1% in 2023, detaching itself for the first time in 25 years from the devaluation of milk in Brazil. In the same period, the price paid to producers for raw milk fell by 10.2%.

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“What we are understanding is that there is a movement for producers to start seeing registration no longer as a cost, but rather as an investment”, says the president of the Brazilian Association of Girolando Breeders, Domício Arruda.

In the Birth Registration and Final Registration categories, equivalent to the Birth Certificate and ID in an analogy with humans, there were record numbers of registrations: 42,640 and 37,586, respectively, representing growth of 6.9% and 4% compared to 2022.

According to the director, the movement is being repeated this year, separating the market for dairy cattle genetics from that of dairy products – just as is already the case in beef cattle farming, where the value of the bovine arroba does not affect the pricing of breeding animals.

“For the first time we have seen this. This happened last year and this year it is already happening again. We closed the month of March with a very significant volume of services”, observes the president of the Association.

According to Arruda, the registration fee is around R$70 per animal – a small investment compared to the value of these animals, in the order of hundreds of thousands of reais. He estimates that, in auctions alone, the sector generated more than R$120 million last year.

“This market for certified animal genetics has increased in value despite the crisis and we have been following this at auctions and fairs. So this entire market has reacted well in genetics, despite the crisis”, comments the president of Girolando.

When contacted, the Brazilian Association of Zebu Breeders (ABCZ) informed that it does not have registration data for zebu breed animals by aptitude, divided between beef and milk. However, representatives of other breed associations confirm the change in scenario.

“My own experience within our farm is that the demand for dairy guzera genetics has grown substantially”, says the vice-president of the Association of Guzerá and Guzolando Breeders of Brazil (ACGB), Eros Gazzinelli. He cites as an example the recent hiring of one of his youngest bulls, just 83 months old, by an insemination center with an eye on the dairy market.

“It is the only animal of the Guzerat breed that holds more than 100 thousand liters of milk between mother and grandparents officially certified by ABCZ, so it is an animal that will break barriers due to its incredible genetic consistency”, explains the breeder. In his assessment, the detachment between the genetics and dairy products market also reflects greater awareness among producers.

“The world has already understood that European breeds do not produce in tropical regions as they do in Europe, with milder climates. So, many livestock farmers no longer buy semen from imported European bulls but rather from Brazilian dairy improver zebu, which makes much more sense”, adds Gazzinelli.