A farmer in China has trained his pigs to dive from a three-metre platform in a bid to attract more visitors to his rural inn and to make his pigs leaner to fetch a better price at market.

The animals start to dive when they are only one-month old. They line up and leap from the elevated diving board into a pond every day. They have to dive at least three times daily and some even dive 30 times a day.

Huang Deming, a pig raiser in Guanshan Village, Ningxiang County, said since he started the diving exercise, his pigs have dramatically raised in value and now sell for nearly three times more than ordinary pigs.

"Our pigs look and taste better, and they are much sought after. And there are many people who have come to fix a time for purchase, and two heads of such pigs have been booked in advance," said Fan Yong, also a pig raiser on the farm.

Huang has trained 15 such pigs of four batches since last year. The current batch includes six pigs that have dived for four months. He explained that the price has increased because the diving pigs are much healthier and happier.