NOVEMBER 23, 2021
Thousands throng to Jodhpur every year to showcase their domesticated animals at a fair in the city. This year, the crowd was left speechless by the presence of a 1500 kg buffalo called “Bheem”, when it appeared at the fair. The buffalo is valued at Rs 24 crore.
As per its owner, a person named Arvind Jangid, an Afghan Sheikh who came to Jodhpur and tried to offer him Rs 24 crore for the cow, but he rejected. He explained that he didn’t bring the buffalo to the fair to auction it, but instead to raise awareness about the Murrah buffalo breed’s protection.
Bheem is a 14-foot-long, 6-foot-tall buffalo with an unparalleled physique. It is maintained at a cost of Rs 2 lakh monthly. This buffalo consumers one kilogram of ghee and 25 litres of milk per day. It also enjoys one kilogram of cashew-almonds every day.
Bheem weighed 1300 kg when last it visited the Pushkar fair of 2019, but the buffalo now weighs 1500 kg, and the price has climbed by Rs 3 crore in just two years. Earlier, Bheem was valued at Rs 21 crore, but this year’s valuation stands at Rs 24 crore. Bheem’s owner, on the other hand, is determined not to sell him. Bheem’s value surpasses some other famous and expensive buffaloes in India like Yuvraj (Rs 9 crore) and Sultan (Rs 21 crore).
Bheem has won a number of honours. The owner had taken him to the Pushkar exhibition in 2018 and 2019. He also took the extraordinary buffalo to several other fairs in Balotra, Nagaur and Dehradun, where Bheem got many prizes.
The owner also sells Bheem’s sperm to cattle breeders, which is in great demand. The sperm of this buffalo is much sought-after; calves born from its sperm weigh 40 to 50 kilogram and make 20 to 30 litres of milk per day as adults. The cost of 0.25 ml (comparable to the size of a pen refill) of its semen is Rs 500. Every year, the owner of Bheem sells roughly 10,000 units, each containing 4 to 5 ml of Bheem’s semen.
