Abou Kane, another leading breeder, has dozens of Ladoum connected under a white tent in the centre of Dakar to offer for Tabaski. His clients will pay up to 2 million CFA francs (3,000 euros, $3,600) for a sacrificial animal. "It's an extraordinary type that you can discover nowhere else," he says, applauding the sheep's "splendour".
However costs are far out of grab many in the country, where about 40 percent survive on less than $1. 90 (1. 70 euros) a day, according to the World Bank. There is still pressure to buy a good-looking sheep, nevertheless. In Dakar's biggest ruminants' market, herders in colourful robes stroll among thousands of bleating sheep and goats.
The market does a roaring trade over the festival duration, according to its president Mamadou Talla, clearing about 150,000 euros ($ 180,000) a day in sales and supplying half of the 260,000 sheep consumed in Dakar. Talla, 61, said that contending for the nicest sheep is a distinctively Senegalese phenomenon and that clients are particular.
Not all sheep are exorbitant. This Article Is More In-Depth stated lots of go for 60,000 CFA francs (90 euros, $107), for example. 'Crackpots' Numerous traders talked to by AFP said that expenses of upkeep and transportation validated the relatively high price of ordinary Tabaski sheep. For the luxurious animals, breeder Abou Kane argued that the rich have a religious obligation to choose the nicest animal.
" You really shouldn't pick just anything". Some argue that the pursuit of appeal in sheep has little to do with Tabaski, however. El Hadji Mamadou Ndiaye, an imam at Dakar's Great Mosque, stated the guidelines dictate that the sacrificial animal be of a particular age, among other procedures, but state absolutely nothing of an animal's size or charm.
" If you're not a crackpot, you simply follow the requirements that are required," Ndiaye stated.
// Senegal's highly treasured ladoum rams in pictures Senegal's highly valued ladoum rams in images
A ram the size of a little pony tosses its head inside a delicious pen illuminated by flashing disco lights, prior to lunging at some ewes half its size. The skittish animal survives on a rooftop in Senegal's capital Dakar, alongside a dozen ewes, in an enclosure featuring ceiling fans, synthetic chandeliers and multicoloured lighting.