Yang and I took Noe (our new builder) and pig “expert” , Vieng Xay Lee, from the German School to look at a pig farm about an hour’s drive east of Phonsavan.  The farm is run by Lao military and it has many of the facilities that are being planned for Ban Xai, such as:

• Pigs
• Fish farm
• Crop production.

Take away information:

• Pig manure is dropped straight into the fish ponds.
• Partition fencing in the pig enclosures is made from welded galv mild steel pipe.  Some enclosures have masonry external walls to about 1.2m high, but we were advised that timber railings were preferable (I assume because of better ventilation and drying of wash down etc).
• They were feeding their pigs with purchased, commercial pig meal, at cost about 150,000kip for 20kg. I did not see any evidence that they were cooking any food for the pigs.
• Conclusion: their pigs looked to be in excellent condition, but the cost of production must be significant.

The villagers have been busy clearing a pathway for construction of the headworks and pipeline for the new water pipe.  Two toilet rings plus lid, which will serve as the headworks reservoir, have been hauled to site using tractors.  A quantity of sand and gravel has also been taken to provide on-site concrete where needed.  The enthusiasm of the village women to participate in this project is great to see.  Some progress has been made with headworks under way with the help of the local villagers.