The three of us went to a rehabilitation center that was started by our friend, Dorothy.  Right now, 12 men who are recovering alcoholics live out there.  They maintain a garden and have many different kinds of animals.  The lot of them are inexperienced farmers.  She told me about 2 months ago that they had several pigs that are pregnant.  In my mind, I had a picture of sows that we had on our farm—3 – 400 pounds.  I couldn’t believe it when she showed me 9 pigs that would barely be large enough to go into our finishing shed, and told me they were pregnant.  These pigs were like teenagers playing around after school.  They could no sooner be give birth than I could.  They could barely be 150 pounds.  Dorothy was astounded at the size of a neighbor’s sow.  She said the sow was as big as a tank.  I said, “Right!  That’s the size they should be. 

            She reckons it is because the people to whom they were paying $35/month to feed the pigs this winter (Dorothy’s group paid for the feed), weren’t doing a good job.  I’m not sure if I understood her, but I think she said she read on the internet that pigs should graze and eat only a small amount of grain.  I’m forever trying to get my students to understand that a lot of the internet is full of nonsense. 

Manure

            Dorothy is worried about the manure—and I would be, too.  Their nine pigs have already produced enough to fill all their barrels.  She has some in a barrel to which they have added water.  She’s letting it sit to ferment or to do whatever it is that pig manure does.  I warned her that there is going to be more manure than she could imagine and that the neighbors will not be thrilled.  The lucky part is that there aren’t many neighbors.  Right across the path from their house, there is a field with nothing planted.  I told her that would be a perfect place for the manure.  I suggested that they get a tractor and wagon.  There are up to 12 able-bodied men living at the center all the time, so they should have no trouble finding manual laborers.  She got the price estimate for a 2nd hand tractor at $5000; the men figured that a 2nd Niva would probably be a better buy at $4000.  We drive a Niva and they may be right.  Our car drives right through huge pot holes and up mountains—it’s perfect for the Almaty landscape.

          They were also building a chicken coop and a farrowing house.  They said they planned to put 10 sows.  The building is tiny.  I told them it didn’t look big enough for ten.  I added that with 10 sows, they might have as many as 70 pigs which are going to make more manure than they have empty fields.  I suggested that they find someone who will buy the pigs right away so they don’t have to feed them and house them. 

            I guess that in a predominately Muslim country in central Asia in the former Soviet Union is one of the few places where I would be considered the pig “expert”.

Capitalism

            The field across from them is not unique in that nothing is planted.  Under Communism, they had huge cooperative farms that used all the land.  The government bought all the produce and nothing was left to chance.  After the Soviet Union fell, the land belonged to no one.  No one had enough capital to make begin again so a lot of the land remains unused year after year.  Nowadays, some people had gotten rich—either legally or illegally and they are beginning to farm.  So…the rich ones who have the money use the money to make more money and get more wealthy.  Welcome to capitalism.