With 20 days left until Eid-ul-Azha, 49,171 animals have been prepared for sacrifice in Nandigram, Bogura. That is 1,061 more than the upazila's demand for qurbani, and farmers hope the surplus will sell outside the upazila.

According to the upazila livestock office, 49,171 animals are being fattened for sacrifice on farms and in homes in Nandigram upazila. They include 12,181 cattle, 77 buffaloes, 34,955 goats and 1,558 sheep.

Hoping for extra profit, farmers are raising animals at home alongside the commercial farms. Besides meeting local demand, the surplus animals from here will meet demand in other parts of the country.

In the upazila, 2,251 large and small farmers and growers are raising various breeds of cattle, buffalo, goats and sheep. Upazila livestock officer Kalpana Rani Roy said a campaign had been run to make sure farmers do not use any harmful chemical feed to fatten the animals.

Farmers said some are fattening animals at home and some on farms. The animals are raised on naturally grown green grass. Besides straw, many feed them oil cake, wheat bran, crushed maize, rice bran and gram husks.

Rahmat Ali, a farmer in Namuit village of the municipality, has prepared 22 bulls for sale at Eid. His farm has animals worth Tk 1.3 lakh to Tk 3 lakh.

"Cattle feed prices have gone up a lot. Raising these animals cost much more, so I am worried about whether I will get a fair price," Rahmat Ali said.

Mojibar Rahman, a farmer in Rahman Nagar mahalla, said: "To fatten the cattle naturally and keep them healthy, we are feeding them straw, rice starch water, fresh grass, oil cake, wheat, gram, bran and other nutritious food. If cattle are fattened this way, there is no risk of falling ill from eating the beef. And naturally fattened cattle are in greater demand and fetch a good price."

Nandigram upazila livestock officer Kalpana Rani Roy said farmers had been advised to fatten animals safely and naturally without using any hormones.

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