Elizabeth Buchan, a pig farmer for over 30 years, grabs firmly onto a broom and scrubs the ground of her Wallerfield, pig pen which is covered in mud and faeces. She has resorted to sweeping the pen instead of washing it down, because she did not have water for nine days.

Standing in the pig pen talking to Business Day, Buchan said she has to ration her water on account of a main which burst nearby. Daily she has to decide whether to keep the pen clean, or keep the water to ensure that her 30 piglets, five sows and one boar have clean drinking water.

“I can’t wash my pen with that water,” she said. “I have to give them that to drink. All the water I have now is for drinking purposes.”

Water is extremely important for raising healthy pigs, particularly during the nursing period, but like many farmers a consistent supply of water is hard to come by. That supply of water has become a worry for small scale pig farmers, who depend on markets and the Christmas season to sell their goods.

But a sporadic supply of water is not the only worry for pig farmers. Because of international shocks, climate change and disease, pig farmers now have to worry about keeping their pigs fed, hydrated and safe from sickness.

Water worries

A sow can birth between seven to ten piglets at a time, all of which would stay with their mother for up to six to seven weeks. During this time, water is essential for the piglets’ growth.

“The sows should have clean, running water to drink anytime they want,” said Brian Maturine, 35, who had been farming since he was ten. The six weeks a piglet spends nursing would determine the rate at which it grows. Depending on the breed of pig, whether the foreign-based Landrace and Duroc, or the local breed of pig, it could be ready for market within four to five months.

Water is also essential for keeping the pens free from diseases – a worry for Buchan.

“Of course we are worried about diseases,” she said. “I have to wash down the weaners with whatever little water I have to feed them because they can get sick quicker than the older ones. Anything passing they will catch it because they are young. The older ones are more resistant.”

And that worry is only exacerbated by the looming danger of African swine fever (ASF) – a disease for which government issued an alert in early August.

[caption id="attachment_908219" align="alignnone" width="1024"] A pig on Brian Maturine's farm in Wallerfield. - Photo by Angelo Marcelle[/caption]

In a release on August 6, the ministry said the virus, 95-100 per cent fatal in pigs but non-lethal to humans, had entered the Dominican Republic.

“(Swine fever) can be spread by live or dead pigs and pork products,” the release said. “It can also be spread in food scraps and food waste generated by air and sea vessels.”

The release added that the virus could be spread through contaminated feed as well. Like covid19, it can survive on surfaces like shoes, clothes, vehicles and equipment for a number of days.

Also, like covid19, there is no cure for ASF – cou