With just a day left for Deepavali, the famous cattle shandy at Manapparai witnessed a brisk sale of sheep and goats on Wednesday
Expecting a good business prospects, farmers from Madurai, Dindigul, Sivaganga, Theni and rural areas of Tiruchi, brought sheep and goats to the shandy, which is generally known for trading of cows and bulls.
According to market sources, the arrival of goats registered a manifold increase this week. In normal weeks, the shandy used to receive about 1,000 goats. But, this week the shandy witnessed the arrival of 5,000 goats.
The expectation among traders and sellers was not belied as the rate went up by at least 20% than last week. Moreover, the goat business came to end within two to four hours. The meat traders, who came to the shandy from different parts of the district, competed with each other in buying goats.
N. Ponnusamy, a cattle trader, said that a goat, which was quoted for ₹5,000 last week, was sold for ₹6,000 to ₹6,500 due to high demand. It was a day of good fortune for goat raisers.
The goat shandy at Samayapuram and Thayanur, which usually assembles on Saturday, has been convened a day in advance on Friday and it is expected that large number of traders and goat rearers would visit the shandies for trade ahead of the festival.