Page "Canchim" Paragraph 2

Zebu cattle ( Bos Indicus ), introduced to Brazil in the last century, were extensively crossbred with herds of native cattle.

The Indian breed, well known for its ability to survive in the tropics, adapted quickly to Brazil, and soon populated large areas, considerably improving Brazilian beef cattle breeding.

Zebu cattle were however found to be inferior to the European breeds in growth rate and yield of meat.

It became clear that the beef cattle population required genetic improvement.

Simply placing European beef cattle ( Bos Taurus ), highly productive in temperate climates, in Central Brazil, would not produce good results, due to their inability to adapt to a tropical environment.

Besides the climate, other factors such as the high occurrence of parasites, diseases and the very low nutritional value of the native forage were problems.