Farming fussy eaters

• By Natalie Pitfield

It’s a widely held misconception that pigs and goats will eat anything. You hear the stories about goats eating tin cans, and if you’ve ever cuddled a goat and they’ve delicately taken a treat from your hand, you can’t help but marvel at how those soft little lips can rip apart metal.

My pigs were part of our recycling system. We would compost and allocate food scraps to all our different animals to keep our waste to a minimum. All my friends who came to dinner would automatically know to put their food scraps in the pig bucket. They were well-trained.

But there were certain things that Thelma and Louise wouldn’t eat. They hated capsicum. They didn’t like eggplant. They’d delicately eat the grapes off the stalks but would leave the stalks intact. They loved corn but not corn husks. I couldn’t fathom the logic, but figured humans could be picky with what they ate, so why not animals?

The goats, however, took this to a new level. Each day, my mum would walk my dogs, and then she’d stop and give the goats some carrots for a treat. They loved this so much. They’d watch her walk and be waiting for her when she arrived back, as they knew it was treat time. But one day she offered them carrots, and they sniffed their noses up. Mum was so surprised. She tried the next day again, and it was the same thing. She thought perhaps there was some sort of spray or something on the bag of carrots, so she tried something else. And they ate what was offered without a problem.

Over the years, the goats have mostly gobbled whatever was on offer. Mum gives them grapes from her vine, apples and a host of delights that they absolutely love. But every now and then, they decide that the carrots on offer are inferior. I think if you’re lucky enough to be offered something you really love as a treat, that you should just be grateful. Apparently, Mum taught me better manners than I taught my goats.

• Chopped chocolate or chocolate buttons – 270g
• Mini marshmallows – 2 cups
• Popcorn, salted – 45g (you could also use chunks of biscuit)
• Coconut, shredded – 1/4 cup
• Mini or chopped up Easter eggs – 1 cup (we used mini eggs)