Samrat: The king bull of Chapainawabganj

Ahead of Eid-ul-Azha, bull Samrat is hogging the limelight in Chapainawabganj’s Shibganj upazila.

Samrat is not like any other ordinary bull, technically a steer, a neutered male popular for its meat – the cattle weigh around 40 maund.

Zulfikar Ali, its owner, said he reared the bull in his dairy in Shahbazpur village of the district’s Shibganj upazila that he started some five years ago.

Every day locals throng Zulfikar’s dairy to catch a glimpse of the big bull.

The bull eats rice bran, mangos, bananas, mustard cakes and raw grass. “I spend Tk 1000 daily on Samrat’s food,” said Zulfikar.

Last year, Zulfikar took the bull to the Gabtoli cattle market in Dhaka but he failed to get the desired price for the animal.

But this year, he hopes to make big bucks on the bull. “Samrat has never been given any antibiotics,” said Zulfikar.

Dr Ranjit Chandra Sing, Shibganj upazila livestock officer, said the Friesian variety cattle are “the biggest bull in the district”.

“We have posted several images of the bull on different online platforms,” he said.