Left: Noel McKay scurries around his pigs' sty, making sure things are in order. Right: Lloyd McKay in an animated discussion with The Gleaner in front of the shack in which he stores his pigs' feed. - photos by Paul Williams

In their mid-40s, Noel and Lloyd McKay are as lean as anyone can be; yet, they spend their days surrounded by, big, fat pigs. But they don't mind. For that's what they do to earn an honest living.

"Me is a independent man. I don't business what a person might take me as. Me know what me is. Me know what me have fi myself," asserted Lloyd, the younger of the two.

So, while some of the pigs that they rear wallow in the river that flows by their sty, the McKays are basking in their independence. And, in these days of redundancies and unemployment, the stench that permeates the air in which they operate is not so bad, after all.

In the heart of Riverton City they live and work. And, it's a dirty job in more ways than one. The conditions under which they exist could have caused them to give up and find something else to do, or turn to crime, but coming from a family headed by strong-willed, hardworking parents who were pig farmers themselves, they are firm in their belief that man must work and earn, despite the hardship that their job might entail.

Hard work

"It's hard work enuh, but if you dedicate your mind to doing it, right here you can sail along with it."

It's about extracting the 'gold' from the dirt, because they want a better life for their children. They are both married. Lloyd has four children (with two women), and Noel five, with three different mothers.

Noel and Lloyd are two of nine children for their parents. They cannot remember when they were ever without pigs. The family started out in Patrick City, St Andrew, from where they moved to Central Village, St Catherine with their pigs. While still living in Central Village, their father established a sty in Riverton City, near the original dump. There, he would stay tending to his pigs, with the children taking food to him from time to time. "We did proud a it, because is what we did live affa, is where wi get wi food from," Lloyd said.

This pride was inculcated within them by their mother, whom Noel described as being 'rougher' than their father. "My madda say where yuh get yuh daily bread from yuh mustn't downgrade it," Noel recalled.

Enthusiastically, they talked about their mother, each finishing the other's sentences. Noel: "She come and help wi fadda like a man!" Lloyd: "When my mother deh yah she wear pants!" Noel: My mother was the backbone of the family enuh!"

Around 1971, they resettled in Riverton City, and have been there since. After White Marl All-Age School, they simply segued into pig-rearing, joining their parents. Now, they are owners of more than 100 pigs and 50 cattle, and in a place where suffering is second nature to most residents, Noel and Lloyd are on their way to extricate themselves from the decay that fences them in.

Fending for themselves

They have been through years of fending for themselves, while battling economic frustration and the stigma of living in Riverton City. Staying the course was important, despite their unflattering circumstances. They had rather eked out a living raising pigs, if only for their children's sake, than to be working for the inelastic minimum wage and/or depending on the dump to provide food for their tables.

"Me noh want them do what me do. Mi want them have a better life, that's why me work fi send them go school to upgrade themselves so that they don't come down lower than me. You see what me never have when me young me want my kids them fi have," Lloyd said, as Noel walked around cleaning up the yard, a task which would seem Herculean for many who are on the outside looking on.

For the brothers, it's a labour of love, creating a brighter tomorrow in a pig sty in Riverton City.

paul.williams@gleanerjm.com