Black-bodied with white legs and a stately gait, the bull has been named 'Sultan Raja'. Sultan Ojha, 45, of Char Chatang village in Ward 2 of Angaria union in Shariatpur Sadar upazila, has raised him for two and a half years. He wants to sell the Friesian bull for Tk 10 lakh at this Eid.

The bull has been brought to the Monohar Bazar cattle market in Shariatpur Sadar for Eid-ul-Azha and is one of the market's biggest attractions. Sultan Ojha claims it weighs 30 maunds and is asking Tk 10 lakh. Word of Sultan Raja has also been spreading at the cattle market and on social media.

Many people are crowding the market to see him. At midday on Monday (4 July), more than a hundred people were gathered around the bull at the Monohar Bazar market. Some were taking selfies; others were just photographing the bull.

One of them, Palash Sheikh, said: "When I came to the cattle market I heard a big bull called Sultan Raja had arrived. So I came to see it and took a selfie."

Sultan Ojha said the bull is 10 feet long and 7 feet tall and weighs 30 maunds. Besides ordinary cattle feed, he bathes the bull with shampoo every day, and two fans are kept running for it at all times. Sultan Raja was born in 2020 to a cow from his own herd and grew steadily with the right feed and care.

"Day by day the bull's weight rose until it reached 1,200 kg. I raised it without help from livestock officials. Its weight has been confirmed on a digital scale," he said.

"I named the bull 'Sultan Raja' out of affection, to match my own name. It is my very beloved bull. I have raised it with care and it is like a member of my family. When I call it Sultan Raja it looks at me and flaps its ears. The bull is very calm by nature," he added.

The bull's diet includes green grass, straw, wheat bran, rice polish, maize, pulse powder and gram. In all, it eats about 20 kg of feed a day.

He said his farm has 35 cattle, including dairy cows, and that he had brought three bulls, including Sultan Raja, to Monohar Bazar for sale that day.

Claiming it is the biggest bull in the district, Sultan Ojha said Sultan Raja weighed 30 maunds as of 4 July and that he was asking Tk 10 lakh for it.

Shariatpur district livestock officer Dr Subodh Kumar Das said the owner had raised the bull, named Sultan Raja, entirely by local methods. If an enthusiast buyer pays a fair price for it, the owner will be encouraged, he said.

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