In the long human effort to shape nature through selective breeding, trust has always rested on the written record — the pedigree, the registry, the documented lineage. A new genomic study of 47 registered Beefalo cattle, a hybrid breed developed from domestic cattle and American bison, has found that 83 percent carry no detectable bison DNA, including a foundation bull sold in 1975 for $2.5 million on the strength of his supposed bison ancestry. The findings do not merely challenge individual records; they invite a reckoning with how confidently any industry has assumed that paperwork and bio