Experts ask rearers not to use steroid for cow fattening

MANIKGANJ, July 30 (BSS): Mankiganj cattle rearers were asked not to use any steroid or hormone tablet for fattening their animals for upcoming Eid-ul-Azha market.

Acting district livestock officer Dr Abdur Razzaque said the field-level officials of animal resource department have been visiting the cattle farms and houses to monitor whether the harmful steroids or feeds are being used for cattle fattening.

Local cattle traders are expected to meet the demand for sacrificial animal in the district this year thanks to farmers particularly char people for rearing cattlehead on commercial basis over the last few years.

Cattle rearing are now a profitable occupation for the people of rural and char areas in Manikganj. Most of the char people of Daulatpur, Shibalaya and Harirampur upazila have chosen the cattle rearing as their main source of income, according to the officials of the district animal resources department.

The official said few years back people of the district were dependent on supply from neighbouring districts for sacrificial animal. But, now cattle farming got momentum in every upazila of the district.

Apart from meeting demand for milk and meat, local farmers are supplying sufficient number of sacrificial animals in the market to cope with the demand.

Nurjahan Begum of Paruria village under Daultpur upazila said she is rearing two oxen which her husband bought ten months ago at a cost of Tk.70,000. She is expecting to sell the two oxen at Tk 0.14 million to 0.15 million as the present market rate.

Nurjahan said they have been rearing the cattle for few years especially for Eid-ul-Azha market. Hundreds of char people, like Nurjahan, are doing the same business.

The cattle market of sacrificial animals is yet to start in the district. Aricha haat, the biggest cattle market in the district will start in full swing in a few days.

Cattle trader Lokman Hossain said special size big oxen and bulls are yet to appear in the markets. Some cattle traders have started supplying cattle in Dhaka and Chattagram.

Report from Khulna adds: With two weeks left for Eid-ul-Azha, the sacrificial animals are being brought to cattle markets in all nine upazilas under Khulna.

The cattle traders and market leaseholders are now passing busy time.

Meanwhile, people especially service holders are preparing themselves to buy cattle after getting monthly salary as well as Eid bonus. Livestock Office sources said here the demand for sacrificial animals in ten districts under the Khulna division is around 0.6 million this year. Till now 0.73 million cattlehead are in stock in local farms and houses.

The demand for sacrificial animals in Khulna in this Eid-ul-Azha could be met almost entirely with locally-reared livestock.

Even 50 per cent of the division's demand could not be fulfilled with local livestock before, but over the last five years, the situation has changed and now hundred per cent of the demand can be met with local stock, said Dr. Arun Kanti Mondal, additional district livestock officer in Khulna.