A Sullen Sow

 Pigs are genial creatures on the whole. They might have a little grump and tussle with each other from time to time but for the most part they rub along nicely with most anyone, minding their own business until the next meal - when it's every man for himself! Mangalitzas are particularly friendly towards humans and, contrary to popular belief, it isn't all about the food!
So it takes us aback when one of our herd is off-colour; it doesn't happen often and leads to much head-scratching and musing until we (think we) get to the bottom of it.

 After my shooting lesson last Friday The Boss said Linda had reported that Ginger was restless and seemingly nervous. She'd been a bit off-colour the day before though so I wasn't convinced it was all about the shooting ('specially when He said I'd have to cease aiming at clays if it was upsetting her???!:-( ) She was still miserable and moochy and not much interested in her food (always a bad sign) on Saturday though and judging from the way Mangal's been pushing her about lately I thought it might have a little more to do with that than noises off left.
So on Sunday evening I opened the gates to Mangal's pen, giving him the opportunity to 'go home'.

Then it was a simple case of offering him breakfast there and, whilst he was eating, taking Ginger's breakfast up to her 'place'. She happily followed. And after eating up - the first time in days, she said, she hadn't been bullied away from her bowl - she set about sorting her house out and getting it just the way she  wanted it.
Mangal made to go back up to her place after he'd finished his food but on finding the gates shut was quite happy to go back and eat up his broccoli. And he hasn't really bothered much about her being away after that. And she's been back to her happy, bouncy self again. Which is such a relief. Nobody likes a sullen old sow!

Meanwhile, down in the field Precious's Little Fruits are growing bolder by the day. They try and get the best of both worlds by alternately
tucking into Mum's dinner bowl and hanging on to a teat whilst she's trying to eat. Yesterday I was schooling Rocco in the Playpen and, coming round a corner, found 9 little piglets standing in a row in the gateway watching! "Not many horses have such an animated audience to watch them work!" I thought to myself. They soon got bored though and scampered off to find some other mischief and, with The Bestest Gundog in the house at the time, they had pretty free rein.