Every evening the parade of cattle in batches from Kyathsandra town to Siddaganga Mutt draws the attention of people. The cattle fair organised by the Siddaganga Mutt started on February 28 and will continue till March 6.
Interestingly, most of the potential buyers were from the north Karnataka region.
Cattle farming is still prevalent in parts of north Karnataka. The sturdy ‘Hallikar’ and ‘Amrith Mahal Kaval’ breed of this region are apt to plough the hard clay soil of Gadag, Haveri and Hubli-Dharward regions.
One of the buyers, Basavaraj from Haveri, claimed that he would buy a pair at not less than Rs 2 lakh, if he finds a pair worth the money. There were instances of a pair of cattle sold for Rs 3 lakh last year.
The administrative official of the mutt, Vishwanathaiah, informed Express that the centenarian seer of the mutt, Shivakumara Swami had advised the authorities to give away cash prizes instead of trophies to the first three prize winners.
On the flip side, there were also farmers in distress, bringing their cattle to sell them off.
One of them from Chikkaballapur taluk said that he could no longer maintain the cattle owing to the drought situation and lack of fodder. The turn out of cattle is high this time, as more than 5,000 cattle gathered.
Another source said that the old cattle, which were also part of the fair were bought by butchers, who took them straight to the slaughter houses. The old ones did not fetch the farmers good bucks, he added.
