Oh No, Goat prices soar !

What do you mean my goat is going to cost me more money ?

The Taliban are going to be pissed off this weekend, they may have to share.


Dawn.com
ISLAMABAD: Most of Pakistan’s Muslims will be unable to join in Eid celebrations with the traditional animal sacrifice this week as cattle prices have more than doubled in the wake of the country’s fatal floods.

After two months of catastrophic late summer flooding swept hundreds of thousands of animals away, livestock traders say supply is so short that they have had to hike prices beyond the means of lower and middle class families.

The annual Islamic holiday, which falls from November 17 to 19 in Pakistan, is marked by the ritual sacrifice after morning prayers of sheep, goats, cows and other livestock whose meat is then shared with the poor.

But the average price of a goat has climbed to 21,000 rupees (250 dollars), according to an AFP survey of markets in five cities across Pakistan – a sum far too high for most families in the impoverished and largely rural nation.

Sheep were fetching the equivalent of between 175 and 300 US dollars and the price of an average cow was 400 dollars, while the more highly-prized bulls were being sold for up to 1,100 dollars.