World's Most Expensive Cow Breaks Own Record for Astronomical Price

A huge white cow has sold for the highest price ever, making it the most expensive cow in the world.

One-third of the ownership of the cow, a 4-and-a-half-year-old Nelore breed named Viatina-19 FIV Mara Imóveis, was sold for 6.99 million reals—the equivalent of $1.44 million—at an auction held in Arandú, Brazil.

The cow was sold by Agropecuária Casa Branca to Nelore HRO for this record-breaking price, placing its total value at a staggering $4.3 million. Half of the ownership of the same cow had already been sold in 2022, for around $800,000, which was record-breaking in itself at the time.

This sale of Viatina-19 FIV Mara Imóveis earmarks the true value of purebred Nelore in Brazil, showing just how much some are willing to pay for high genetic quality specimens. This high price will also ripple across the international cattle market, highlighting the breed's value and strengthening its reputation worldwide.

Nelore cows are a breed characterized by their bright white fur, with a distinct bulbous hump above their shoulders. They have naturally high resistance to hotter temperatures, which comes from their loose, dangly skin, and possession of sweat glands twice as large and 30 percent more numerous than those of many European breeds, according to Oklahoma State University.

This breed originates from India and is named after the Indian district of Nellore in Andhra Pradesh state. It is now one of the most important breeds in Brazil, primarily due to its hardiness and its ability to thrive on poor-quality forage, due to its efficient metabolism.

It also breeds easily, as the females have wider pelvic openings and larger birth canals, while calves need little interaction from humans to successfully grow to adulthood. Nelores are also resistant to a number of parasitic infections, due to their dense skin texture making it harder for blood-sucking insects to penetrate.

Its high price is a result of these favorable characteristics, with the breed being selectively bred to amplify these traits using artificial insemination. Sales of Nelore semen represent 65 percent of the total artificial insemination market of cows in Brazil, and according to a Guardian report from 2018, sperm from the most valuable elite bulls may cost $5,000 per 0.55-milliliter (0.03 ounces) dose. There are around 167,000,000 Nelore cattle in Brazil, comprising 80 percent of the total number of cows across the country.

It's a "fantastic feeling of fulfilling our commitment to sharing Viatina-19 genetics with HRO, a livestock project with a fantastic history," Fabiana Marques Borrelli, director of Casa Branca, told local outlet Portal do Agronegócio in a quote translated from Portuguese.

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