The farmer and mechanic., 1915-09-28
A TEXAS CATTLE
KING IN BRAZIL
Talk With Murdo Mackenzie About The Meat
Possibilities Of The Country

His Company Owns Millions OF Acres |
and Has 1900 Cattle Upon Them
The Importation Of the HerefOrds
Hindu Bulls and the Native Cows
Queer Features of Cattle Raising.
The Brazilian COwbOy-The Jerked
Beef Business.
Copyright. 1885, by Frank @. Car
penter.)
SAC PAULO.
During my stay in Sac Paulo l met
Mr.. Murdo Mackenzie, the manager
Of the Brazil Cattle Land and Pack
ing Company. who had just come in
from his great ranch in southern Bra
zil. Mr.. Mackenzie Is we'll known to
the cattle men Of the United States.
Born in Scotland, he came to Texas
rs young man and grew up with
our cattle interests. He has had to
do with every branch of the business,
and that on large scale. He has
seen the evolution of American beef
from the Texas grass-fed steer to the
fine corn-fed Shorthorn of today. He
was at one time the owner of a ranch
in the United States which had 10000
fine Herefords upon il, and he is now
Introducing HerefordS and ShorthornS
into this country, forming the begin
ming Of cattle industry which, in its
fine stock, may some day compete
with that of the Argentine.
Mr.. MackenZie's operations in this
part of the world are upon a large
scale. He is connected with the Far
quhar syndicate, which owns millions
of acres of land, which is building
thousands of miles of railway and
which l might almost say is opening
ar,l ,v,tv "
Brazil the cattle company of which Mr.
Mackenzie is head owns nine or ter
millions acres of pastures and it has
over four million acres in one block
The latter tract is just across the
border from Bolivia and north of Par
aguay. 1t is in the great state O.
aIatto Crosse, which is more thar
twice the size of Texas, and which
Mr.. Mackenzie tells me promises t.
become one of the greatest meat has
ketS on earth.
The Brazil Railway Company is nov
extending its lines, which alrCad
cover = large part OF southern Sa
Paulo, parana, Santa Catherine an,
Rio Grande do Sui. the white man
country of southern Brazil, into Matt
Crosse. They have projected II lin
which will run from Sac Paulo an
the Bay Of San Francisco, clear acros
Matte Crosse to within forty miles Q
this great ranch Of four million acre!
This will open up an enormous area c
pastures and will carry the cattle q
rect To the sea
When the road is completed thes
lands will be within 500 miles of Sa
fautO and the cattle can be Shippe
by rail 10 meat packing houses whic
will soon he erected here. Mr.. MAJ
kenZie tells me that he has driven ca
t1c much further than this in ii
United states and that il would be Il
easy matter 10 drive the stock acro
country 10 the market. From Sa
paulo to Santos the beef will
shipped to the United States.
| asked Mr.. Mackenzie as to II
Charact9r Of the lands in Mat
crosse and As to whether they We
set doing anything upon the b
rauch He replied:
we have now 10000 head
cattle feeding upon our pastures
the Brazilian highlands. We are raj
ing them for dried beef. but we W
eventually ship them across count
to the markets. The land there is e
cellent. The country is Well watert
The Paraguay river runs through
ana Il part Of il is inundated duri
much Of the year. The water is n
doep and the grass rises above the ST
face. - hat the stock feed and grt
lat upon H."
what kind Of cattle have Y
thcTe?"
The most of Our stock is still
the native breeds. but we are brir
ing in line hlooded breeding anim
from the United States and are i
proving it, We expect to cross
native cattle with the Herefords
We think that makes the best amin
for this country. AS il is, our cat
are better than the old Texas ste
and fully equal to the grass-fed a
mal3 or some parts Of the Uni
states. Take the cattle which are n
being shipped from North Dakota
Chicago, and if they can dress up
5S per cent of their live weight al
having been brought from that
tance, il is considered fairly SO
The other day | brought in st
from our ranch and had him xii
and weighed. He dressed M to 2e