He has a huge body and walks like a king, so he was fondly named "Sultan". The three-and-a-half-year-old bull weighs about 37 maunds, and the asking price is Tk 12 lakh. He has been prepared for Eid-ul-Azha.

Sultan, a Holstein Friesian bull, stands five and a half feet tall and is eight and a half feet long. He was born on the farm of Nurul Amin, a poor farmer in Haricharan Laskar Balapara village of Balapara union in Kaunia upazila, Rangpur.

Nurul Amin said he had a cow about eight years ago, and Sultan was born to that cow. Sultan is now three and a half years old. To raise him, Nurul Amin had to sell Sultan's mother, and he also took loans to feed and care for him as needed. Day by day his weight has risen to 37 maunds. Nurul Amin will sell Sultan at Qurbani Eid.

People from the surrounding area crowd into Nurul Amin's house almost every day to see Sultan. Nurul Amin claims it is the biggest bull in the upazila, and he is asking Tk 12 lakh for him.

Nurul Amin's house is beside the Manas river of the Teesta in Haricharan Laskar Balapara village. On a visit, Sultan was found tied with a thick rope in the shed, with a fan running above him. Nurul Amin said Sultan feels comfortable staying indoors.

The farmer said he has no land apart from his 26-decimal homestead. Hoping to become self-reliant, he and his two sons, working as farmhands on other people's land, set up the farm about 10 years ago. Besides Sultan, the farm had seven cows and bulls. As fodder prices rose he fell into debt keeping them, and he has already sold five cattle to repay loans.

Nurul Amin said Sultan, a Friesian weighing about 1,480 kg, eats apples, malta, green grass, straw, wheat, rice powder, bran, maize and cooked broken rice. In all, he eats about Tk 800 worth of food a day.

"As soon as I finish work in other people's fields, I come to Sultan. I have raised him like a member of the family. Besides a lot of labour, a lot of money has been spent on him. Many local wholesale buyers have offered up to Tk 10 lakh for Sultan," he said.

"What is the use of asking too much? If I make a small profit after costs, I will sell. That is why I am asking Tk 12 lakh this Qurbani Eid," the farmer added.

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