ABOUT ZEBUS AND ZEBUZEIROS: VALUE AND PRICE, INFLUENCES AND SUBSTANCES IN ELITE CATTLE AUCTIONS

Abstract

Abstract Brazil is one of the largest producers of beef. It also produces and markets the most expensive zebus (Bos taurus indicus) in the world. In sumptuous auctions, which offer an abundant amount of food and drink to the participants, elite cattle are sold for millionaire prices. This article, aims to analyse this market through an ethnography of a cattle auction in the state of Minas Gerais: the set of exchanges that produce race and pedigree, value, and reputations and the socdes and substances that link men and cattle.