Cattle sales for Eid-ul-Azha are in their final stage, and the number of buyers is a little higher at the last minute. At the market, everyone tries to buy the healthiest and best animal within their budget. Young cattle with plenty of meat are in the highest demand.

But many people cannot tell by looking how much meat a cow will give. As a result, many are misled by sellers into paying more for cattle with less meat. In fact, a fat cow will not necessarily give more meat.

Often, because of the fattening process, fluid collects under the skin. Such cattle look as if they have a lot of meat, but after the sacrifice the meat turns out to be much less than expected.

Although cattle can be weighed at the time of purchase, many people do not know in advance how many kilograms of meat will remain after removing the hide and unwanted parts.

So anyone who has not yet bought a sacrificial cow, or is about to, should learn the technique for judging how much meat it carries. It takes a small calculation. To buy a cow knowing how many kilograms of meat it will give, take a measuring tape with you.

Then measure the cow's length and chest girth. Remember that length must be measured from the point of the shoulder to the point of the hip.

Now do a small sum on a calculator: the cow's length (in inches) multiplied by the square of the chest girth (in inches), divided by 300. The result is the cow's weight in pounds. Multiplying that result by 2.2 (two point two), the report says, gives the weight in kilograms.

It is possible to get 50-55 per cent of this weight as meat, which is easy to work out. The report also says, however, that for cattle the meat will be 45 per cent of body weight.

Signs of a healthy cow are being alert to its surroundings; clean, bright nose, mouth and eyes; smooth, glossy hair; beads of sweat on the tip of the nose; and quickly shaking its head, ears and tail to drive off flies and mosquitoes.

A healthy cow also eats normally and has a normal body temperature and normal dung and urine, with their colour normal too. And a healthy cow will chew the cud normally after eating.

Signs of a sick cow are being dull and listless, keeping its head down, drooping ears, reluctance to eat, abnormal movement, diarrhoea, rapid breathing and fluid coming from the nose.

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