More than TL 5 billion to be spent during Eid al-Adha

The holy Eid-al Adha holiday, meaning "the festival of the sacrifice," will begin on Oct. 4 this year, and millions of animals will be sacrificed nationwide. The holiday is celebrated by millions of Muslims in Turkey and around the world, who sacrifice an animal to express their obedience to God. "On average, more than 2 million sheep and goats and over 800,000 cattle are slaughtered during Eid al-Adha. That is to say, around 3 million animals will be slaughtered during the four-day holiday," TZOB President Bayraktar said. According to Bayraktar, more than 4.8 million animals will be available for sale in barns and stables across the country. Prices for cattle will range from between TL 2,000 and TL 11,200 depending on weight, while the prices of sheep and goats will range from between TL 350 and TL 1,350. Bayraktar expects that just over TL 4 billion will be spent on cattle, while around TL 1.38 billion will be spent on purchasing sacrificial sheep and goats. He anticipated that cattle would be sold for around TL 880 on average, while sheep and goats would cost an average of TL 600, Today's Zaman reports. Recent figures from the Turkish Statistics Institute (TurkStat) indicated that the number of domestic cattle raised in Turkey hit 14.9 million in May, showing an increase of 2.8 percent year-on-year during the period of January through May of this year, and the number of sheep and goats grew by 10 percent to reach 42 million in the same period.