Ashraful Alam Rujen of Kamalpur New Town in Bhairab, Kishoreganj, has been fattening cattle for 26 years. Of the several Friesian bulls born to cows on his own farm, he has prepared one named Raja Babu for sale at this year's Eid-ul-Azha. Weighing 22.5 maunds, Raja Babu will be sold for Tk 6 lakh.

Rujen raises the cattle born on his farm entirely by traditional methods, fattening them on local feed such as straw, grass and bran.

"I have been raising cattle on my farm for 26 years," Rujen told Jagonews24. "Every year before Eid-ul-Azha I fatten the large cattle bred on the farm and get them ready for sale. This year a big Friesian bull has been prepared. I raise the cattle the local way. No medicine of any kind is used."

He said he would sell the 900kg Raja Babu for Tk 6 lakh. Many buyers have already come to see the bull and bargain over it. Some have offered Tk 3–4 lakh, but he said he would not sell at that price.

Farm caretaker Sultan Mia said: "Raja Babu is the calf of one of our farm's cows. For three years we have fed him straw, grass, bran and gram. The bull has been fattened without any harmful injections. Now he has been grown on local feed for sale at Eid-ul-Azha."

Bhairab Upazila Livestock Officer Dr Moniruzzaman Tarafder said farmer Ashraful Alam Rujen had fattened a 900kg Friesian bull, bred on his own farm, for sale at Eid-ul-Azha and named it Raja Babu. Buyers and visitors crowd the farm every day to see him.

He added that local farmers had been under the livestock office's supervision all year, receiving the training, advice and veterinary treatment needed for fattening animals. Because of that supervision, he said, the animals raised here are completely safe. This year 18,000 animals have been prepared for sacrifice on 2,100 farms, and after meeting local demand they can be sold in other districts.

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