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Published : 20 Aug 2018, 04:03 PM
They are the inhabitants of a cattle farm owned by Kamal Hossain in Elahinagar, a village in Sonargaon.
These calves were born as a cross-breed of local cows and Brahman or Brahma bulls under the Beef Cattle Development Project of the Department of Livestock Services or DLS, said Hossain.
At least 33,760 calves were born through a new reproduction process, said SMA Samad, director of the project.
“More than 1,500 Brahma bulls are available for sale in the cattle markets for the upcoming Eid-ul-Azha. Each weighs almost a tonne and, in some cases, more than that.”
Hossain from Sonargaon said he had cross-bred seven calves in 2014 under the DLS project and sold them off within two years. He has sold 30 such calves so far.
“Some of them were young when I sold. I had one calf with me until it reached the age of two and weighed 1,070kg,” he said.
Hossain sold a bull that weighed more than a tonne, prior to the Eid-ul-Fitr.
As Hossain was successful in cattle rearing, other farmers in Sonargaon followed suit
One Brahma cow weighs a tonne after two years of rearing while a local cow or bull weighs 75kg in the same period. “That is a big difference,” said Samad explaining why this cross-bred cattle is profitable to raise.
Also, Brahma cattle yields lean meat which is suitable for consumption by people from any age group, he added.
They are spreading the Brahma breed in Bangladesh as it can make Bangladesh self-sufficient in meat production, Fisheries and Livestock Minister Narayan Chandra Chanda told bdnews24.com on Sunday.
Chanda added the ministry has planned to produce smaller-sized cattle to meet the demand of sacrificial animals during Eid-ul-Azha.
“We are planning to produce mixed-bred cattle using high-quality local breeds in Chattogram and Pabna and other parts of the country,” said the minister.
Many people are reluctant to consume the meat from Brahma cattle assuming it is unhealthy and does not taste well, which is a misconception, said KBM Saiful Islam, chairman of the Medicine and Public Health Department of Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University.
“Of course, beef is healthy unless something toxic is infused into the cattle itself; and the taste cannot to differentiated if you cook it in the same way as local beef,” said Islam.
The Department of Livestock Services began to produce the Brahma-bred cattle in 2008. The project was piloted in 11 upazilas in the country for three years and later expanded into 185 upazilas in 48 districts in fiscal 2016-17.
