27 cows including bulls, heifers and calves of a farm died after eating Napier-type grass in Purbadhala upazila of Netrakona. The incident took place at Tahazid Agro Farm in Paschim Para village of Sadar Union from Sunday to last Tuesday night. Apart from this, several other cows of the farm are sick.

Zaherul Islam, the owner of the farm, said that there are more than two hundred small and big cows in his farm. There are more bulls among them. He prepared to sell the bulls on the occasion of Eid al-Adha. The cows started getting sick after being fed Napier’s raw grass from his own farm on Saturday evening. The cows started dying one by one from Sunday afternoon. Last Tuesday, a bull cow died around eight o’clock. In total, 27 cows of the farm died. Out of this 23 bulls other than two milch cows and two calves. The farmer claims that the current market value of the cows is around 70 lakh taka.

Zahirul Islam said to the media on Wednesday afternoon, “As I was not at home that day, the people taking care of the farm cut the grass from the pasture and immediately gave it to the cows to eat this problem. Napier grass was usually cut the previous day and given the next day. Or the animals were allowed to eat by keeping them in the sun for about two hours. At least 50 of the farm’s 203 cows were fed this grass. Four cows are still sick on the farm after the death. The upazila livestock officials came and collected the samples and grass samples of the dead cows. I don’t understand what to do. I did the farm on loan.

Purbadhala Upazila Livestock Officer MMA Awal Talukdar said that during the rains, the level of nitrogen in young grass is high. Cows can die from nitrate poisoning. Grass samples and dead cow samples were collected. More details will be known after the exam. In this regard, the medical team of the directorate is keeping up with the farmer and providing round-the-clock medical services. He also said that farmers should refrain from giving cows only raw grass. Apart from this, cattle should not be fed immediately after cutting Napier grass.