Most expensive cow sold at auction

On 22 November 2024, a cow named Carina (FIV do Kado) sold for R$24.06 million ($4.1 million; £3.2 million) at the Cataratas Collection Auction in Foz do Iguaçu, Paraná, Brazil.

By the time of the auction, the three-year-old Nelore cow had won three livestock titles, in 2023 and 2024. The purchase price takes into account Carina’s ability to generate descendants of a high genetic standard. She was raised by José Ricardo Benato on the Pé da Serra Farm in Piracicaba and was purchased by a conglomerate of four cattle breeders.

This surpassed the previous record set by another Nelore cow - Mara (aka Viatina-19 FIV Mara Imóveis) - which fetched R$21 million ($4.38 million; £3.33 million) in Arandu, São Paulo, Brazil, on 1 July 2023.

The Nelore breed is known for its ability to adapt to tropical climates as well as its resistance to diseases, and accounts for most of Brazil’s beef cattle (i.e., those raised for meat production).