Bagerhat: A Bangladeshi young man has started rearing fat-tailed sheep, a species of domesticated animal more common in desert regions like in the Middle East countries, including Saudi Arabia, and is expecting high returns from his commercial venture, a sheep farm in his village.

Unlike his fellows who are still pursuing further studies for a job, Fuad Hasan, a university graduate with BBA specialisation, has rather self-employed by establishing a sheep farm, on two acres of land at his native Attaki village in Fakirhat upazila in the district.

Many people, more importantly the unemployed youths, have already started thronging around his farm to know about the novel thought—creating man-made desert for sheep pasturing and rearing the desert species in an apparently unfamiliar weather here, reports the UNB.

‘I started sheep farming two months ago with five turkey hybrid species – two females and one male--- of the desert animals. Within a gap of only three weeks, one of female sheep gave birth to two of its kind and two others are also bearing their own babies to perform within a few days,’ said farm owner Fuad.

A newborn sheep needs 3-4 years to get adult and each adult can weigh between 100 Kilograms and 120 Kilograms, said Fuad who had studied much of the species.

On sale, sheep become very costly and demanding ahead of Qurbani Eid (the second biggest religious festival when animals are sacrificed) as many pious Muslims of Bangladesh prefer those animals for their sacrifice as they think sheep hail from the holy land, Saudi Arabia to be precise, he said.

‘I wish to spread this farming all across the country as it will reduce unemployment crisis here as well as bring huge foreign currency if we can commercially grow those species of animal,’ he said.

Sheep are in many ways similar with goats in their eating habits, they live on tree leaves, parrots, peanuts and grasses, creating huge chances to bring them in farming in Bangladesh commercially, according to Fuad.   

Each adult can be sold for Tk 2.5 lakh to Tk 3 lakh. Its meat and milk are very tasty and healthy, the newly self-employed man said.

Fuad said many unemployed young people want to venture into sheep farming amid ever-growing employment crisis here, but they cannot due to lack of proper knowledge regarding sheep cultivation.

Visiting Fuad’s farm site, an educated youth coming from nearby village, Sheikh Rezaul Karim, said, ‘Fuad has brought the idea of farming sheep here in our locality.’

‘Before visiting his sheep farm, my knowledge regarding it was confined only  to books and televisions. But now I’ve learned many things about this farming’, he said.

‘I want to start my own one as early as possible, as we’ll now get practical knowledge from Fuad, ‘ the employment seeker went on saying.

Dr Pushpen Kumar Sikdar, Livestock Resource Officer of Fakirhat upazila, said sheep farming has a very good prospect in Bangladesh as they can easily adjust with tropical weather existing here.

‘They’re as easy to nurture as it happens to goats. Like the popular cattle ‘goats’, sheep also give birth to two to five baby sheep at a time that attracts thousands of educated fortune seekers in the country.

Sheep farming can be one of the most profitable farming in the country as in Middle-eastern countries. It can meet up the country’s demand for both meat and milk, he said.

‘We can even earn foreign exchanges by exporting the milk and meet of the animal after meeting up our own demands,’ the livestock officer hoped.