Pig farming!

What's up guys?

This was definitely my best day at EARTH so far!

I woke up super early, around 5:20 or so, and got ready to go to breakfast. I sat with a friendly student from Ethiopia and his friends. he spoke english, which was extremely helpful. Everyone here is very friendly and understanding when I struggle with spanish. They try to explain things to me in either simple spanish or english, which really helps when you're trying to learn about taking care of pigs. Anyway, after breakfast we all went to the farm.

This farm is utterly gorgeous.

A map of the farm

It's perched up on a hill (which is hard to walk up or ride a bike up, but I digress) and it's a great sight in the morning. When I (finally) got up the hill, I hitched my bike up on a post right outside the pig area of the farm. It's on the edge of the hill so there's a beautiful view!

Right next to the hill

So I stood there for a few minutes when suddenly I saw this!

Horses! On the hill

Yea, horses whatever it's a farm, why's this even worth mentioning? Well. I was standing there admiring these horses when they started walking away from the fence. They had wire ropes tied to their back right legs so I assumed that they could only go a certain distance. Well, they kept walking. Then they started trotting. Then they started galloping down the other side of the hill with the long ends of the wires being dragged behind them. I didn't think that was supposed to happen. I figured this was just me being an overly worried person when suddenly a farm hand came running up the hill yelling "What happened? Where are the horses?" I pointed in the right direction and  watched as he tried to corral the horses. With the help of Profe Moro's car, 2 students on bikes, and a lot of yelling, the horses were brought back to pasture. Mind you, this all happened within 15 minutes of my first day actually working on the farm.

After a nice introduction where all the students told me where they were from and what their names were, Profe Moro started the day with a quick lesson. I didn't fully understand it, but from what I understood it was just a rundown of quick instructions for 2nd year students and a reminder for 4th year students. Profe Moro introduced me to a 4th year student who showed me around the farm and told me about some of the several projects on the farm including grazing systems, biodigesters, compost worm growth, and many others. Once he was done showing me around I was brought to the pig area where I'll be working for the rest of the week.

This is the fun part.

I walked to the back of the pens to be introduced to a farmhand named Don Luis, a 2nd year student named Gabbie, and another 2nd year student (who's name I forgot..Sorry guy!). Within a minute of introducing myself Don Luis scooped up one of the several 3 day old piglets and attempted to teach me how to hold him. After one failed attempt filled with the screams of a little pig (I wasn't rough, if anything I was too gentle!) Don Luis scooped up the runt of the litter and taught me how to hold him properly. You hold the tail and then hold the rest of the body with your open hand. This time went a whole lot better. I didn't take a picture of me holding the piglet but I might get one tomorrow!

Babies and their mama

After holding the piglets we got to work. I helped let water out from their bathing areas, learned about artificial insemination in pigs, helped feed the pigs, harvested sugarcane, and hosed down the pens.

We worked from 6:30 to 1 or so, so we were all exhausted. We were dismissed and I rode my bike back to campus. The rest of the day was uneventful. I took some time to relax, went to talk to Professor Nico, went for a swim with Lina and Marianna, and went to dinner. I talked to Abby (http://abbyinnepal.blogspot.com/) and Ali ( http://aliinbangladesh.wordpress.com/) after so it was a nice way to end the day!

Goodnight guys!

-Allie