Section on the required age for the udḥiyah, which sacrificial animals are preferable, and the defects that render them unsuitable

The age that fulfils the requirement for the udḥiyah is: a jadhʿ (young animal) among sheep and anything older, and a thani (two-year-old or older) among goats, camels, and cattle. A jadhʿ among sheep is one that is ten months up to a full lunar year, or thereabouts; the absolute minimum is six months, and the closer it is to ten months the farther it is from grounds for objection. The thani among sheep and goats is the animal that has entered its second year—that is, completed one full year and begun the second—or something close to that, and the same rule applies to cattle. Some maintained that when a cow enters its third year it is classed as thani, while others said: only when it begins its fourth year. And the thani among camels is the one that has—