Brazil This was supposed to be a stellar year for Brazil's cattle industry. Calf birth rates are up. Mortality is falling.
Productivity is at an all-time high.
With about 165 million head, Brazil has the largest commercial herd of cattle in the world. And in the last decade, the country has gone from being a net importer to the world's third-largest exporter of beef, behind only the United States and Australia. Even the panic throughout Western Europe over mad cow disease, which is believed to be spread through feed containing parts of infected animals, was seen as advantageous for Brazil. Depressed beef prices were not seen as much of a problem, since Brazil's beef is among the cheapest around. For Brazil, which has had problems with the disease in the past and still has not fully eradicated it in its own herd, some say the chances that the international market will open to more of its beef products have just grown slimmer at least for now.