A bull named 'Barishaler Boss' (Boss of Barishal), raised on a farm in Agailjhara upazila of Barishal and weighing about 55 maunds, has been priced at Tk 35 lakh. In Bakerganj upazila, a 30-maund bull called 'Tufan' has been priced at Tk 10 lakh. Of these, Barishaler Boss is the biggest in the district, the district livestock officer said.

The huge bull named Barishaler Boss is an Australian Holstein Friesian. Shamim Sikder of Barabashail village in Rajihar union of Agailjhara upazila has raised it with great care on his farm for three years.

Farm owner Shamim Sikder told Jago News that he bought the Friesian calf from the Shahapur area of Khulna three years ago, when it was a year old, and brought it to his farm. Over three years the bull's feed has cost more than Tk 6 lakh, with another Tk 1 lakh to Tk 1.5 lakh in other costs. The bull now weighs 2,200 kg, or about 55 maunds.

Shamim Sikder said the bull is about six and a half feet tall and ten and a half feet long. Its feed costs Tk 800 to 900 a day. It has been raised on bran, molasses, oil cake, gram, broken rice, grass and the like. Barishaler Boss also loves jackfruit, so in season jackfruit is provided every day, and it can easily eat four or five. No drugs were given to fatten it, he said.

His farm has 206 cattle, large and small, but Barishaler Boss behaves quite differently from the rest. He has found out that, considering size, weight, price and looks, his Barishaler Boss is the best among cattle raised on farms across the district. He wants to sell the 55-maund bull at this Qurbani Eid and is asking Tk 35 lakh.

Curious people crowd his farm every day to see the bull, he said, but few buyers have come even as Eid approaches. Taking such a big animal to a market, or to a market in another district, is very risky, so he wants to sell it at the farm rather than at a market, even if that means giving some discount on the price.

Some people have come from far away to see the bull, but they have not agreed on a price. A buyer from outside Barishal offered up to Tk 22 lakh. He said he would consider any offer above Tk 30 lakh.

Agailjhara upazila livestock officer Dr Moniruzzaman Tarafdar said farmer Shamim Sikder's bull, Barishaler Boss, was the biggest in the upazila, and no bull this big had been found in neighbouring upazilas either. But it will be hard to find a buyer for it in the Barishal region, so the owner has been advised to take it to a big market in Dhaka or Chattogram.

Meanwhile, a bull named Tufan, weighing about 30 maunds and owned by Imdadul Haque Raihan, a businessman of the Ranir Haat area in Charadi union of Bakerganj upazila, has already caused a stir locally. Tufan is being raised in a separate shed at Raihan's brick kiln.

Imdadul Haque Raihan said raising a bull like Tufan was very expensive and hard work. Although its food and housing are different, the bull has been raised with great care, like other members of the family, and a separate person had to be kept to look after it.

He bought the Friesian bull as a hobby two years ago for Tk 1 lakh 5 thousand, when it was a year old and weighed only four maunds. Since then he has cared for it like a family member. Tufan has been raised on a balanced diet, including rice, wheat and maize meal, straw and napier grass, and proper treatment.

Raihan told Jago News that after the bull was brought there, it would try to butt any stranger with its horns and had a very bad temper. For this reason local children began calling it Tufan (storm), and the name stuck. Tufan is now three years old.

The bull measures about 79 inches from head to tail, 94 inches wide and about 65 inches tall. It is black and white, has four teeth and weighs about 1,200 kg, or about 30 maunds.

Imdadul Haque Raihan said a great deal of money was being spent on Tufan; feed now costs Tk 800 to 900 a day. Although a separate person is kept, he himself has to look after Tufan for most of the day, including feeding, bathing and treatment. He first asked Tk 10 lakh for Tufan but, getting no response from buyers, has announced a price cut.

Bakerganj upazila livestock officer Dr Md Alauddin Masud said he had not known that Imdadul Haque Raihan of Ranirhat was raising such a big bull. "When I learned of it, I sent people to the spot on Monday afternoon to find out. Tufan is bigger than the other bulls in the upazila. We are trying to contact people in Barishal and elsewhere who are interested in buying big cattle," he said.

Barishal district livestock officer Dr Nurul Alam said most farmers in the district had raised local breeds for the Qurbani Eid. This year 8,013 farmers in the district have prepared about 108,600 livestock for sacrifice.

Quite large bulls have been prepared for sale on farms at Charkauwa and Kashipur in Sadar upazila, Agailjhara, Bakerganj and several other places this year, he said. "As far as I have found out, the bull on Shamim Sikder's farm in Barabashail village of Rajihar union in Agailjhara upazila is the biggest in the district. But there are not many buyers for such big cattle in Barishal."

For this reason, a campaign is under way to encourage people to buy online, and farmers and buyers are being asked to buy and sell sacrificial animals online. Officials of the district livestock office and the 10 upazila offices have opened a Facebook page called 'Online Qurbanir Haat' for online sales. "We hope farmers and owners will be able to sell their cattle online at good prices," he said.

Source: Jagonews24. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.