Bhaijan, hearing the name one can think about uttering the name of the Hindi cinema ‘Bhaijan’ but here the matter is different. A bull named ‘Bhaijan’ is now the talk of the town in Jashore. Already people from different parts of the district have been thronging at the house of one Mahidul Zaman Kajal of Sitarampur village in Sadar upazila, who reared the 10 feet long and 5.8 inches height cow at his farm. Currently, the big bull weighs around 1,356 kg. Mahidul demanded Tk 18 lakh for Bhaijan. Read: Kalo Manik: The big bull that's ready to charge this Eid! According to the district livestock department, of the big size bulls reared in the district, Bhaijan is the largest among all. “I bought Bhaijan, an Australian Frisian variety cow, when he was six-month old at a cost of Tk 69,000. I kept him with other cattle in my farm,” said Mahidul.Gradually he was named as ‘Bhaijan’ following his healthy and fit body size, he said. He ate food weighing 10-12 kg in a day and he gets showers three days in a week with shampoo, said the cattle farmer. Quamrul Islam, a worker of the farm, said “We reared ‘Bhaijan’ as our child and two people remained to stand by him round the clock.” Read: Samrat: The king bull of Chapainawabganj Many people visited the farm to catch a glimpse of ‘Bhaijan’ and some of them took selfies with him. District Livestock Officer Rashedul Haque said, 'I have visited the farm of Mahidul and he is rearing his cow using organic methods properly.’ This year, a total of 35,000 cows and 60,500 goats have been prepared in 9,000 small and big size farms ahead of Eid-ul-Azha, he said. Read more: With Eid-ul-Azha approaching, Khulna cattle famers distraught over price hike of fodder

With barely three-four days left for Eid-ul-Azha, cattle farmer Azizul Haque is a bit worried. The reason -- he has not been able to fatten naturally the four bulls he has been rearing since last October. Like him, many small-time farmers in Bangladesh have been struggling to feed their cattle properly since March 2022 as retail inflation has taken a toll on fodder. And most of them are yet to fix a good asking price for the sacrificial animals. These farmers say that the prices of staple cattle feeds such as wheat bran, rice bran, oil cake, maize, Indian peas and molasses have all increased two to three-fold of late. Read: Huge crowd at Chuadanga cattle markets; Sales still low "I may not be able to cash on the growing demand for meat this Eid. This is because I could not spend much on fodder to naturally fatten my bulls ahead of Eid. Retail inflation is really pinching," says Azizul. Take for instance, maize. Its price has doubled in the past one year -- from Tk 17-18 per kg in 2021 to Tk 33-34 per kg this year. Similarly, wheat bran now costs Tk 60 a kg, up by 100% from last year's price. Khail (oil cake) was available for Tk 32 a kg and Indian peas for Tk 34-36 per kg in 2021. This year, Khail is being sold at Tk 50 per kg and Indian pea at Tk 55-60 per kg.