Things to Know Before Buying a Cow for Qurbani

Eid-ul-Adha, the holy Qurbani Eid of Muslims of Bangladesh is near. Muslims all around the world celebrate this holy occasion with pride and joy. On this special day, millions of farm animals are sacrificed all around the world including Bangladesh. Every year around 50 to 55 lakh farm animals are sacrificed alone in Bangladesh. In this season the farmers of this country feed their farm animals with special food to make them healthy and prepared. Amongst them, some dishonest farmers use growth hormones, steroids and other harmful chemical products on their farm animals for fattening to gain extra profit.

Steroid-infused meat is harmful to human health. The kidney, liver and other sensitive organs are damaged by eating this poisonous meat and chances of Diabetes, Cancer and many more complex diseases increase. The most affected people after having infected meat are the women and children. In case of children, the first sign is obesity and then comes high blood cholesterol and many more diseases. Children and women fall sick very quickly after consuming steroid-infused meat.

Because of the harmful effects and harsh reactions on human health, the Food and Drugs Administrations of many developed countries have banned these type of steroid hormones for the animal fattening process. These products are typically used to cure and save the lives of serious human patients, these are not for animals. But still, these products are injected or fed to cows, goats and other farm animals. To stop using hormones on animals like this, according to the animal feed act-2010, several steroid hormones such as – Decason, Oradexon, Prednisolon, Betnenal, Cortan, Steron and Adam-33 etc. have been banned to sell as veterinary medicine.

After feeding these medicines the functionalities of the kidneys and liver of these farm animals are disturbed. Thus water cannot get out from their system properly and starts building up in their bodies. As a result, they look fat but the meat mass doesn’t increase at all. Also as a result of the normal organ-function failure, these animals can even die 20-25 days after the consumption of these horrible fattening hormones. There are other scientific methods for increasing the meat-mass of farm animals for Qurbani, such as- feeding a certain mix ratio of Urea, Molasses and Straw (UMS) to the cows for approximately 6 months daily. The UMS method increases the mass of meat in a cow and makes it healthier and good looking.

Actually, people buy the non-scientifically fattened farm animals knowingly or unknowingly and later sacrifice them and eat their meat in Qurbani. These hormones don’t go away from highly-infused animal meat even after cooking them in high heat. As a result the people who consume these meat fall sick very quickly and are forced to spend a lot of money in treatments. That is a prime reason why many people are worried about buying the wrong animal for sacrificial purpose. But if you know the difference and the right way to identify hormone-infused cows or other animals and how to pick the healthy ones properly, then you have nothing to worry about.

How to identify a good cow?

• Take an expert person with you, who can identify a healthy and perfect cow, while going to the Qurbani animal marketplaces.
• Age is a very important factor for Qurbani animals. For cows, they need to be at least 2 years of age, which can easily be detected by examining their teeth. Determining the age of cows up to 5 years of age is very easy and accurate: the animal has two permanent incisors at 2 years of age, four at 3 years of age, six at 4 years of age and a full mouth of eight permanent incisors at 5 years of age. The teeth of a healthy cow are undamaged and look beautiful.
• In case of goats, the age must be at least 1 year. For camels at least 5 years and for sheep at least 1 year of age, but if a 6 month or older sheep appears healthy like a 1 year old one, then it is allowed to be sacrificed.
• Qurbani animal should be bought during day-light. Because it is hard to tell if an animal is sick or healthy at night; most chances are that you pick a sick or weak cow for Qurbani.
• Try holding some food item before the mouth of a cow. If the animal is healthy, it will easily use its tongue to take the food in and chew it. A sick animal doesn’t want to eat that much.
• Take a good look at its nose. The surface of a healthy animal’s nose is typically wet.
• Sacrificing a pregnant animal is prohibited. So it must be checked before making a purchase.
• The hunch on the back of a healthy animal should be thick and tight.
• In case of cows, it is best to go for the native ones. After a long journey across the border, the cows usually get very tired, sometimes they face minor injuries on the way. These cows are basically drowsing most of the time, so it’s hard to tell if they are sick or just tired.
• Usually the bigger cows are tend to be hormone-injected or fed most of the time. So it is safer to buy a medium-sized cow for sacrificing.
• A big fat cow always doesn’t always mean a healthy or a good sacrificial animal. A big, fat cow basically has a lot of fat in its system, which can cause serious damage to human health after consumption. Also fat cows are more likely to be infused with growth hormones and chemicals. So it is wise to avoid such animals for Qurbani.
• Because of excess water buildup in their bodies, hormone-injected cows seem extremely fatty. If you press anywhere on their body with a finger, that place will be dented deep and won’t get back to normal condition as soon as you release the pressure.
• Examine the animal thoroughly for any kind of bruises or signs of wound before making a purchase. Check if the horns are broken, the tail, mouth, teeth, hooves everything needs to be checked properly for any kind of fault.

If you keep all these things checked and look carefully, you are sure to pick the perfect animal for this Qurbani and save yourself from any unwanted trouble.

Take some more tips from the veterinary specialist:

All necessary precautions from haat till the sacrifice

• Take a strong stable person with you to help you bring the sacrificial animal home safely.
• Keep your money and mobile safe while entering and the entire time you spend at a haat.
• It is wise to avoid fine and bright clothing while going to buy an animal. It is obvious that the dress and shoes you wear will be destroyed in the dirt and spills.
• Do not ever buy an animal from outside the haat just to avoid the taxes, there is no win. The animals outside the haats are more likely to be stolen or illegal.
• Pay the haat taxes properly to avoid further trouble.
• Buy enough straw and food from the haat for your animal right after you buy one. This will save you from extra hassle after coming home. Also, proper care and nutrition is a necessity for your Qurbani animal.
• Bind your animal properly and with care while bringing them home. Treat your animal with affection, don’t torture it unnecessarily.
• Fix the rate and time with a butcher before the Qurbani. You can never find a proper butcher in the eleventh hour.
• Collect clean knives and bamboo mats to keep the severed meat beforehand.

InShaAllah if you keep all these things in mind you will no longer have to worry about buying a cow for Qurbani animal and get yourselves free from all the extra hassle during this Eid. You can also buy your sacrificial animal from your home online! Many online marketplaces like bikroy.com/deals have a great collection of hormone-free best quality cows and many other sacrificial animals for you, directly from our trusted sellers. So no matter where you buy your Qurbani animal from, extra precautions and the right decisions at the right time can make your Eid more enjoyable every year. Happy shopping!

In Islam is it permissible to purchase Qurbani animals online?