Breakfast Monitor

 It was our "Fathers' (Mangal & Samson) Open Day" and, as part of the lead up to the proceedings, we ran a competition to name Ginger's Little Deserts. The stand-out winner imaginatively suggested the names of some of the deserts on Mars. Such a creative idea we just knew that Mangal and Ginger would approve. So, we now have: (boys) Prometheus, Noa, Tyrrhenus, Cimmerian and Meridan and (girls) Siren, Sabea and Aonia. Nice or what?
"Martians is appropriate" I said to The Boss when he read the Entry out to me "From the way they keep investigating every nook and cranny  (including my newly planted flower pots and the kitchen lawn) you'd think they were aliens trying to suss things out." Actually, I suppose that's just what piglets are.
Anyway, they spend more time out of Mum's pen than in it. Starting with breakfast. They tumble through the fence wire and scramble into the food bowls before I have time to put them in the pen with Ginger. Gunner has assumed the role of Breakfast Monitor and takes it as a matter of pride to ensure they assemble in one place till the bowls are cleaned up. Not something the Martian Deserts object to!

 Ginger doesn't complain at all; (a) because at least one, and sometimes, two of the piglets stay and share her bowl and (b) because she probably gets to eat more of her own food than if they were all trying to get in her bowl! Apart from that, having been through the process 7 times before, she knows that it'll soon be weaning time. (Memo to keep an eye on Mangal because any day now he'll start collecting bowls for Ginger's return!).

With the exception of Ginger, all the pigs are now on a new breakfast regime of fresh vegetables only. The Big Boss has set up an arrangement with a local producer and packer whereby we collect trugs of fresh green produce every week - goods which would otherwise be destined for the leading supermarkets but which are past their 'keep-by' date. One week it's cauliflower, another it's pointy or savoy cabbage, next it could be broccoli or whatever - or it could be a mix of any or all. Mostly the veg. is fresher than it would be off the supermarket shelves because it comes straight from the chiller. Anyway, the pigs love it although some of them like one type of veg more than another. It gives them a more varied diet and one which they can 'graze' on for much of the day and they also then look forward to a change at tea time when they have their proprietary pig feed as well as veg. Best of all, the greens are all organic so we can maintain our "no additives, no preservatives" ethos. Plus with substituting vegetables for some breakfast we can more easily monitor the expanding waistlines - something which Samson, below, is very keen on!