The Ruling on Zakah in Non-Grazing Livestock

Question:
I bought a group of camels—twenty camels—and placed them in a farm of mine. How is their zakah calculated if a lunar year passes over them?

Answer:

For camels, sheep, and cattle, the condition for their zakah is that they must be grazing in the open pasture. If a man feeds them in his house or on his farm, there is no zakah on them. Zakah is due on grazing livestock that graze for most of the lunar year, the majority of the year, or the entire year. If they are fed for most of the lunar year, or for the entire lunar year, there is no zakah on them, whether they are camels, cattle, or sheep.

Question: Do you not consider them, O Shaykh, as trade goods?

Answer: Only if he intends to trade in them; yes, if he intends to trade in them, their zakah becomes the zakah of wealth. He pays zakah on them as trade goods when the lunar year passes over them. He pays zakah on their value, not on their head count, because they are trade goods in that case, even if he feeds them in his house or on his farm.