Bakra mandi: how do you check a goat's teeth to judge its real age?

Daant — the number of permanent incisors — is how age gets judged at the mandi, and age is not optional. A goat or dumba has to be at least a year, a cow or bull two, a camel five.

The trouble is that sellers know exactly what the answer is worth, so the fraud runs both ways: a young goat sold as older to be valid, an old one sold as younger to look like value.

So how do you actually open the mouth and read it? And what else are you reading at the same time — horns, hooves, how it walks, how it stands when it thinks nobody is looking?

Post what you check, in the order you check it.

Do daant matlab aik saal poora ho gaya. Yehi Qurbani ke liye kam se kam shart hai bakre me. Chaar daant matlab tqreeban do saal, chhe daant teen saal, aath daant chaar saal.

Log sirf daant dekhte hain aur baaki janwar bhool jate hain. Maine aik dafa "do daant" wala bakra liya jo bilkul theek tha lekin pair me halka langra tha. Eid se do din pehle woh baith gaya.

Faisalabad, pandrah saal se mandi ja raha hoon. Jis tarteeb se main dekhta hoon, wohi likh raha hoon — kyunke tarteeb hi asal cheez hai. Daant sab se aakhir me aata hai, sab se pehle nahi.

1. Door se dekho, haath lagane se pehle.
Sab se ziada maloomat yahan milti hai aur sab se kam log yahan dekhte hain. Janwar khara kaise hai, wazan chaaron pairon pe barabar hai ya nahi, sar uthaya hua hai ya jhuka hua, kaan khare hain ya latke hue. Beemar janwar door se pehchana jata hai. Jaise hi aap qareeb jate hain, bech ne wala use khara kar deta hai aur seedha kar deta hai.

2. Chalao.
Bech ne wale se kaho ke das qadam chala kar dikhaye, aur wapas laye. Langra yahan pakra jata hai. Agar woh chalane se inkar kare ya bahana banaye — bas, aage barh jao. Yeh sab se bara red flag hai aur sab se aasan test.

3. Saans aur naak.
Kaan lagao. Ghar ghar ki awaaz, khaansi, ya naak se paani — chhor do. Mandi me har janwar ko halki khaansi hoti hai lekin sabaz ya gaarha paani nahi hona chahiye.

4. Aankhen aur mun ki jhilli.
Aankh saaf aur chamakdar. Palak ke andar ki jhilli gulabi honi chahiye. Safed ya bilkul peeli matlab worms ya khoon ki kami — aisa janwar do hafte me wazan nahi barhayega, girayega.

5. Peechay ki taraf.
Dum ke neeche dekho. Geela, lag hua gobar matlab dast. Bech ne wale aksar wahan saaf kar dete hain, to baal ke rang me farq dhoondo.

6. Khaal aur baal.
Haath phero. Gunj, khurk, ya khaal utri hui jagah — mange ho sakti hai. Aur rang ke kinaron pe ghor se dekho, spray paint yahin pakri jati hai.

7. Ab daant.
Aik haath thori ke neeche, doosre ke angoothe se neeche wala honth neeche karo. Sirf neeche wale saamne ke daant dekhne hain — bakre ke upar daant hote hi nahi, wahan sakht gadi hoti hai.

• Doodh ke daant: chhote, safed, barabar. Bacha hai.
• Do bare daant beech me: aik saal poora. Qurbani ke liye jaiz.
• Chaar bare: ~2 saal. Chhe: ~3 saal. Aath: ~4 saal.
  Bara daant doodh wale daant se sirf bara nahi hota — woh chaura aur alag rang ka hota hai. Aik dafa dekh lo to phir kabhi dhoka nahi hoga.

Ghisa hua ya toota hua daant — janwar buddha hai. Woh gosht ke liye theek hai lekin us ki qeemat kam honi chahiye.

8. Wazan, haath se.
Peeth pe reedh ki haddi mehsoos karo. Agar haddi teekhi aur ubhri hui hai to gosht nahi hai, chahe janwar bara lagta ho. Seene ke peeche haath dalo, bhara hona chahiye.

Aakhri baat: subah jao. Bech ne wale sham tak janwar ko pani aur chara khila kar bhara hua dikhate hain, aur thake hue kharidar jaldi me faisla karte hain.

Aur jo baat sab se ahem hai: chalane se inkar = chale jao. Baaki sab me shak ki gunjaish hai, is me nahi.

Palak ke andar ki jhilli wala tareeqa mujhe mere waalid ne sikhaya tha aur maine kabhi kisi aur ko istemal karte nahi dekha. Yeh worms ke liye sab se tez test hai aur bilkul muft hai.

Gaay aur bail ke liye do daant matlab do saal, yeh yaad rakhna zaroori hai — bakre wala hisaab gaay pe nahi lagta. Har saal koi na koi is me ghalti karta hai.

Is saal yeh list phone me le kar gaya. Pehla bakra jo pasand aaya tha, chalane pe halka langra nikla. Doosra le liya. Shukriya.

Quetta me dumba zyada chalta hai bakre se. Wahi tareeqa hai kya daant ka?

Haan, bilkul wohi. Dumbe aur bher me bhi do daant matlab aik saal. Baaki check bhi wohi hain, sirf oon ki wajah se wazan ka andaza haath se lena parta hai — dekhne me sab bare lagte hain.