Help & FAQ

GirTank is a global marketplace and knowledge hub for Gir and Girolando dairy genetics — semen and embryos — built for the tropics. It connects Brazilian and Indian studs and exporters with dairy buyers across Africa, Southeast Asia, and Latin America, alongside a free worldwide index of genetics listings (the Roundup), a directory of studs and exporters (the Atlas), translated news, a price index, and the breed's history, foundation bloodlines, and record milk cows.

No — and on purpose. Brazil's domestic marketplaces (such as erural and the big AI companies' own stores) serve the mature home market very well. GirTank is scoped to the export window: the cross-border flow of Gir and Girolando dairy genetics OUT to smallholder and commercial dairies in hot climates that don't yet have one place to find exportable, health-eligible genetics. We complement the Brazilian home market rather than compete with it.

Browsing the marketplace, the Roundup, the Atlas directory, news, price data, and all educational content is free. Sellers list for free during launch; there is a small platform fee only when a sale is completed on-site.

The Roundup is our free, attributed index of Gir and Girolando genetics listings found on exporters' and studs' own websites worldwide. Each entry shows the facts — the sire or donor, what's offered, the PTA or lactation record when published, the price when stated — plus a link straight back to the original page. We never rehost a seller's photos or ad copy; we point you to the source. Most source material is in Portuguese, and we translate it.

The Atlas is a free directory of Gir and Girolando studs, AI companies, IVF labs, and exporters — by country and region, with a link to each one's own site. It maps who can actually supply exportable tropical-dairy genetics, from the Brazilian heartland (Uberaba, Minas Gerais) to distributors in Africa, Southeast Asia, and Latin America.

For GirTank seller listings, you can enquire or purchase directly on the listing page. For Roundup entries (third-party listings from around the web), click through to the exporter's own site — those aren't GirTank vendors, and we link you to the source. Semen is sold per straw (dose) and embryos per embryo; IVF (FIV) embryos are common for long-distance export. Prices are set by each seller.

As a rough guide: inside Brazil, commercial dairy-Gir doses run about R$20–30 (a few US dollars), with proven/elite sires from roughly R$130 to R$300+ and top bulls higher. For an international buyer, add a health-certificate, liquid-nitrogen shipping, and distributor margin — a working estimate is roughly US$8–40 per straw for commercial/unproven bulls and US$40–150+ for proven, elite, or sexed sires. Girolando typically runs about 10–15% below pure elite Gir. Embryos vary widely, from a few hundred US dollars for commercial IVF embryos to several thousand for record-donor lines. Always confirm a landed quote with the exporter — these are estimates, not a price list.

Often, yes — Brazilian Gir and Girolando semen and IVF embryos already ship to Ecuador, Colombia, Guatemala, Venezuela, Mexico, Nigeria, Kenya, the United States, and India. But export always depends on the importing country's health protocol. Brazil is recognised free of foot-and-mouth disease without vaccination, and donor bulls at an approved centre are cleared for bluetongue, brucellosis, and tuberculosis, with a zoosanitary/health certificate issued per destination. Requirements differ by country, so confirm the protocol with the exporter and your own veterinary authority before buying. GirTank surfaces export eligibility on each listing but is a venue, not your customs or health authority.

Because a purebred Holstein struggles in heat, humidity, and high tick and disease pressure, and needs feed and management a smallholder often can't provide. Gir is a Bos indicus (zebu) breed selected over centuries for exactly those conditions, and Girolando (5/8 Holstein, 3/8 Gir) blends Holstein milk volume with Gir resilience. In tropical dairies these genetics keep producing milk on lower-quality forage at lower feed and vet cost — the whole reason they're in demand across the global tropics.

Create a free account, then post a listing with the sire or donor, product type (semen or embryos), price, quantity, and the details buyers shop on: PTA milk / lactation record, purity tier (PO or PC), Gir vs Girolando (and the Holstein fraction for Girolando), and — critically for export — the health-clearance and destination eligibility. Listing is free during launch. Getting paid on-site uses Stripe Connect.

Listing is free during launch. GirTank takes a small platform fee only on completed on-site sales. You keep full control of your listings and can edit or remove them any time. Web listings we index in the Roundup are free and can be removed on request by the site owner.

The Gir (Gyr in Brazil) is an ancient Bos indicus dairy zebu from the Gir forest of Gujarat, India — recognisable by its domed forehead, long pendulous ears, back-curving horns, and mottled red-to-white coat. It is heat-, humidity-, and tick-tolerant and milks well on poor forage. Brought to Brazil from the late 1800s, it was selected there into a high-yielding tropical dairy breed and is the maternal foundation of Girolando.

Gir is a purebred zebu (Bos indicus). Girolando is Brazil's synthetic tropical dairy breed — a Holstein × Gir cross, officially standardised at 5/8 Holstein + 3/8 Gir, recognised as a breed in 1996. Girolando now produces roughly 80% of Brazil's milk. Gir genetics are traded as a purebred foundation and as the base to breed up or maintain Girolando; Girolando genetics are sold as a ready-made tropical-dairy package. Both are exported.

They're purity tiers in the Brazilian zebu herd book. PO (Puro de Origem, 'pure of origin') means full registration with known genealogy back to the closing of the book — the top tier. PC (Puro por Cruza, 'pure by crossing') means a graded-up animal that meets the breed standard but has a non-breed ancestor within a few generations. PO generally commands the highest price; a PC dam bred to PO sires eventually yields PO offspring.

PTA (Predicted Transmitting Ability) is the estimated genetic value a bull or cow passes to offspring for a trait, such as +kg of milk. It's published in the annual Embrapa/association summaries (sumários) for Gir and Girolando. In a dairy breed, buyers rank semen and embryos on PTA and lactation records — kilograms of milk — not on marbling or beef traits. It's the number the whole market shops on.

In India, purebred Gir historically averaged around 1,600–2,100 kg per lactation. Brazil's selection programs roughly doubled that — elite dairy Gir now average around 4,500 kg per 305-day lactation, and Girolando averages around 3,600 kg with far higher records. The headline extremes are extraordinary: a dairy Gir has recorded over 80 kg of milk in a single day, and a Girolando cow holds the Guinness 24-hour record at 127.57 kg.

Brazil is the modern heartland — home to the largest improved population, the ABCZ and ABCGIL herd books, the Embrapa programs, and ExpoZebu in Uberaba. India is the breed's origin and, increasingly, a re-importer of improved Brazilian genetics. The export markets GirTank serves are the global tropics: Latin America (Colombia, Ecuador, Guatemala, Mexico, Venezuela, Bolivia), Sub-Saharan Africa (Kenya, Nigeria), and South and Southeast Asia. The Atlas directory maps studs and exporters worldwide.

Read the Gir story to see how a sacred Indian zebu became a Brazilian dairy powerhouse, browse the foundation-animal pages to meet the sires and record cows behind today's genetics, and use the Atlas and Roundup to see who exports what. Learn the PO/PC and PTA basics and your own country's import health rules early — the help assistant below can walk you through any of it.