Brazil has more cows than people – around 235 million of them — but one in particular is extraordinary. Milk-white with a massive body, she is watched over by security cameras and an armed bodyguard. The cow, named Viatina-19, lives on a farm in Uberaba, Minas Gerais state, and is the most expensive ever sold at auction. A 33 per cent stake sold last year put her total value at 21 million reais (£3.2 million) — more than triple the prior record-holder, a Holstein heifer in Vermont in 1985. She is the product of what one might call “moo-genics” — this involves improving cattle stock by implanting bespoke embryos into surrogate cows known as “rental bellies”, selling top individuals at high-stakes auctions, while also cloning them.