Piglet turns out to be a girl...

Yesterday Piglet's energy levels sank really low for the first time since they were born, so I removed him once again to try and make sure he gets all the nourishment he needs.   We guard them at the troughs, defending them against Pickles and Pork who eat as if there's no tomorrow, and then he eats, but I have never been able to establish whether he suckles at all.   Initially he was not that much smaller than the rest but they have grown so much that suddenly he is half their size.

Today, wisely, little Miss Muffett (MM) asked me whether Piglet was a boy or a girl, so I quickly checked and discovered that he is a she.

At that moment her fate turned from 'bacon' to 'mummy'.   She will probably live to a ripe old age on this farm, bearing other little piggies for us to slaughter because the way she's going she is not going to go to slaughter.   She makes the cutest little squeals when I try to insert her into her box with her hot water bottle whenever she has been fed, preferring to rather fall asleep in my arms before being put to bed.

I ask you.   I'm warmly tucked into bed with my laptop right now, with piglet wrapped in a towel tucked under the blankets beside me...   Every now and then there's the faintest little grunt of satisfaction emanating from the bump under the duvet.

How does one go from that to serving her up for dinner, ever?