The farm

My mother’s live-in maid’s (that’s how much different life in Vietnam is) mother’s two sows gave birth to 13 and 10 piglets. For a few days, they were the conversation: how were they, how to feed them all, how to find somebody to nurture the one that did not have their mother’s nipples to suckle (the sow only has 12). They did not know that the conversations are remarkably similar to those of Clarkson’s, a western millionaire. Only that Clarkson had 10 sows, lots of land, but then not much else. They, and Clarkson, also have access to a vet, and willing neighbours. So why the difference in scales, I wonder. It is surely not the capital, or labour, or land, for that matter, as the mother lives in a rural area. I remember the time when my brother had to chop banana plant for pigs. They eat anything and everything. And also if labour cost is accounted for, why pork in Vietnam still as expensive as in the UK (Clarkson sold his for premium prices though).