Life in Phana

Model Agriculture Centre, Phana -- Livestock Update

Life at the Model Agriculture Centre in Phana goes on. And how. We re-visited a few days ago and in the few months since we were last there we found the following new arrivals:

31 piglets, 3 geese, 1 foal, all of them born there. New donations (nobody seemed to know exactly why they had been donated or whether they had a place there other than as pets) were 4 rabbits and 1 guinea-pig.

It also seems that a more accurate rendering of the Centre's name would be something like:

Centre for Training and Distribution for Self-Sufficient Agriculture

But that seems a bit of a mouthful so for the purpose of updating my previous posts, I have stuck with the first name.

The photos are large on this post, partly because I like them that way but also because they more or less speak for themselves so there will be very little text.

My favourite, and the one I went back hoping to see; born a month ago:

 

 

These piglets are a couple of months old, but it seems quite a small litter ...

 

... especially when compared to these 11 one-month olds ...

 

... or the 14 little ones here, less than a week old.

 

The two geese strutting about in the previous post are the parents of these three, but they have been separated so that the little ones can receive special care in a safer environment. 

 

The staff of the centre are preparing for the frog breeding season by building nursery ponds (anuban!) since frogs tend to cannibalise their offspring, or some of them.

 

And here are some of the other newcomers. Click on the pics to enlarge them if you want to see a rabbit and a guinea-pig. They are not that often seen in Thailand.

 

 

And finally ... here's a pig that would like to be taken for an Asiatic Black Bear:

 

Appliance of Science at the Model Agriculture Centre, Phana

The appliance of science was the tag-line on a series of advertisements in the UK some years back. I think it was used by a company producing fridges and freezers. The phrase came back to me when I visited the Model Agriculture Centre in Tambon Phra Lao, Phana. It seems that this piece of equipment is proving of interest to lots of local farmers. It is only of use to them if they are keeping pigs, however. That is because it relies on a good quantity of pig dung to be produced and collected as often as possible. Here are Pensri and  the young man in charge explaining to each other how it works. He explained the day-to-day running and Pensri explained a bit of the practical chemistry behind it. The dog found it all very interesting but made no comment.

The first step is to collect as much pig dung as possible. That is not a problem here as my next post updating the post about livestock will show. The dung is washed into the strong plastic storage tank through this aperture:

The tank is filled to about half its capacity with the slurry of pig dung mixed with water. Methane gas is given off and rises to fill the tank. A pipe connects the tank with a gas cooker through this pipe arching over the water containers. An offshoot of the pipe leads into the inverted plastic bottle which has water in the bottom and a hole cut into the top. The short piece of pipe going into the bottle has a valve which allows gas into the bottle if the pressure is too great. The gas then bubbles through the water and escapes into the air through the hole in the bottle. The purpose of the water is so that if bubbles are seen then it is apparent that the gas pressure is too high. Ingeneous, eh?

Here you see the gas ring, actually a double ring, hence the divided pipe and the two taps. Depending on how much heat you require, you open one or both of the taps. Of course, the gas supply could be attached to a more sophisticated cooker if required.

 

 

About 10 kgs of pig dung is collected here each day and fed into the tank. Enough methane gas is produced to provide all the fuel the half dozen or so workers need in order to cook their food and heat water for tea.

 

The tank is emptied every few days by running off liquid from the end of the tank. Bacterial action inside the tank destroys the fecal matter and there is no smell from the run-off. However, the tank that collects the run-off is normally covered.

Livestock at the Model Agriculture Centre, Phana

Self-sufficiency has been a buzz-word in Thailand for several years now, popularized by HM the King's promotion of his ideas on the subject. At least one farm in Phana is run along lines advocated by His Majesty. The Model Agriculture Centre just outside Ban Pathum Kaew in Tambon Phra Lao is a further example and it sets out to give assistance to local farmers who wish to pursue a more sustainable way of working. To this end they have gathererd a collection of livestock and are advising farmers on the selection, care and breeding of livestock. In at least one case, they are providing breeding samples, and it is likely that they are doing so, or plan to, in every case.

For purely sentimental reasons, my favourites are these most recent additions. The one on the right was heavily pregnant when I last visited about a month ago, so I will be making another visit soon to see whether she has foaled.  Ponies such as these used to be used quite a lot in this part of the country. My father-in-law, for instance, was a school inspector/advisor for several years in the 1950s and travelled from school to school on just such a pony. There are still quite a few specimens in Champassak Province in southern Lao and last year I saw a monk riding one in neighbouring Ubon Ratchathani Province. These two were purchased by Tetsaban Phra Lao from the market in Warin Chamrap.

 You might wonder what this specimen has to look so smug about ...

 ... and now you know.

 He doesn't seem destined for the pot but a long and happy life doing what I'm sure he does best.

This fine specimen of brahmin cattle is in fine condition and also looks proud of himself, I'd say.

And what is that about sauce for the gander also being sauce for the goose? One of these doesn't look so sure.

Now when I first saw these enclosures I jumped to the conclusion that some little vegetables were being grown behind the protection of the fine-mesh netting, safe from the prying beaks of marauding birds. I may have been partly right about the need for the netting, but very wrong about the vegetables. What is under here is pure protein!

See what I mean? Unfortunately the photo doesn't do justice to what I saw in the enclosures: hundreds of frogs like this one. They all hopped for cover under the lotus leaves in the pools as soon as I approached, and taking pictures through the netting proved pretty unsuccessful anyway. But what happens to these frogs is a good example of the sustainable agriculture idea. Farmers are shown how to prevent them from hopping away and falling prey to predators by building secure enclosures, and also how to provide a suitable environment and food for them to grow well and keep breeding. They are also shown when to cull the population and to what extent, and hey presto! Suddenly there are lots more frogs in the market for the frog-hungry residents of Phana. And nobody has to wade through ponds and flooded paddy fields to catch them.

 

 

Model Agriculture Centre, Phana

The Model Agriculture Centre in Phana more often goes by the name on this sign at the entrance: Fai Rong Hin. But many people don't seem to know about it at all. I suppose if you have to work for a living, you don't have the time or the inclination to go exploring the countryside. I have plenty of time and inclination for that sort of thing.

As you can see from the lower part of the sign, you are welcome here.

  Fai Rong Hin has been developed over the last four or five years by Tetsaban Tambon Phra Lao. I would guess that it has been their major project. The 'fai' or reservoir is of course a source of water to irrigate the fields, as well as contributing to the piped water supply to houses in Phana. But the tetsaban saw the possibilities of developing the area as a leisure resource and as a place for officials and others to come for seminars, short courses, meetings and that sort of thing. And latterly, it has been developed as a centre for providing advice and practical assistance to farmers and others who wish to develop a sustainable, more self-sufficient lifestyle.

 This sala looks like a good place to have a picnic, though it is already in need of some repair:

The first part of the model agriculture centre to be developed was the fish breeding ponds. Different kinds of fish are kept in separate ponds and are supplied to farmers to stock their own ponds.

This is very much a pilot program, but it seems very promising and the take-up from local people is reported to be good.

I will have more on this place in my next couple of posts.