What a prize bull can do to economies of scale

Legend has it that the phrase ‘ cock and bull story’ originated somewhere in Buckinghamshire, England. A town on an old Roman road, it seems, was a stopping point in the era of coaches, and two rival inns, called The Cock and The Bull, were centres of many tall tales travellers used to entertain themselves with. In India, however, holy cows and the general bovine category lend themselves to other, variegated, uses. Be it claims of various bodily fluids emanating from such creatures as cure-alls for everything from a headache to the Ebola virus, to the oft-repeated yet still-sighted scenes of calmly seated bovinity in the middle of the road obstructing traffic, we have our own systems of appraisal. And now, a chap, or rather a bull, in Meerut has taken that to new levels.

Yuvraj, a 1,400-kg Murrah bull, has been crowned champion at the town’s cattle show, and its owner reportedly refused a Rs 7-crore offer to sell it. This can just be called bullish sentiment, since the farmer seems to be betting he can earn more by selling the creature’s semen in the long run — he says he earns around Rs 50 lakh a year — despite the lavish everyday spread Yuvraj munches on. If you assume a price/earning multiple of 15, the bull is worth Rs 7.5 crore. Who says farmers are all thumbs when it comes to financial analysis? The strong and the silent can indeed evoke financial savvy.