Getting Ready for the Piglets

I mentioned last week, that with piglets due to arrive (in two batches) this month, we'd need to add to our existing piggery. Hollow blocks, concrete and sand were delivered yesterday, and my wife's papa - along with a helper - began working on the addition this morning.

While the two men were working, I fetched water from the spring in order to clean the pigs, the piggery and keep the 30 gallon container topped off. While cleaning the piggery, it was necessary to water down the floor and sweep the manure toward the drain. When the manure was wet, the pigs began to eat their own manure. I've heard that pigs will eat anything - even their own waste, but I don't recall ever having seen one eat its feces before. Looking into this, I learn that pigs may be doing this because a significant amount of semi-digested matter is left in the manure.

Looking even further into the subject of pigs eating feces, I learned of something which is said to have once been quite common in rural China - the pig toilet - a simple type of dry toilet consisting of an outhouse mounted over a pigsty, with a chute or hole connecting the two. The pigs consume the feces of the users of the toilet, as well as other food. The pig toilet is also said to be common in India.

Put this down as one Asian tradition I will not be following.