160 woolly pigs were released on a Scottish farm – and they’re disrupting the landscape in a very significant way

160 woolly pigs were released on a Scottish farm – and they’re disrupting the landscape in a very significant way

Pigs are environmental engineers, not architects of destruction, says BBC Countryfile's Adam Henson


The snout is what it’s all about. You might think that the outstanding feature of the average pig is its tail, its trotters or even its oink. But, as any livestock farmer will tell you, a pig’s nose is the most remarkable structure and does much more than simply snort and sniff. Albeit very noisily.

In fact, a pig’s nose can perform several vital jobs simultaneously. In technical terms, it is an extraordinary olfactory organ that can detect and decode scents with unbelievable sensitivity and precision. It’s thought a pig’s sense of smell is 2,000 times stronger than a human’s and because it’s far more complex than its eyesight or any of the other senses, you could say that sniffing and snuffling is how swine ‘see’ the world around them. It’s no wonder hogs have been used to hunt for truffles since Roman times.

Those impressive snouts are also surprisingly manoeuvrable, with a dexterity that has to be seen to be believed. They can move in all directions and, in many breeds, the flat fleshy end of the snout can even be used to grip objects. It’s all thanks to a combination of flexible cartilage and powerful muscle, which also gives the business end of a pig the strength to turn over and root through the soil.

The snout is like a power-tool on the front of their faces and it’s unbeatable for foraging and digging for food. This has been a problem in the past when feral pigs and humans have lived side by side. It’s thought that about 600 wild boar roam in the Forest of Dean and for years they have caused headaches for residents in that corner of Gloucestershire, with frequent destruction to gardens, sports fields, campsites and graveyards. But increasingly we’re seeing how the pigs’ talent for rooting is advantageous.

Why are pigs useful for farmers?

Properly managed domesticated herds, rather than wild populations, can have huge benefits for agroforestry where trees are part of the pasture or crop-growing landscape. In Hampshire there’s a long tradition of ‘pannage’, where pigs are released into the New Forest every autumn to feast on the abundance of fallen acorns, beechmast and chestnuts that litter the ground. It must feel like Christmas-come-early for the pigs, but it’s a lifesaver for the iconic New Forest ponies that can be poisoned if they eat acorns (and green acorns in particular).

New Forest pannage goes back to the time of William the Conqueror, but an altogether more recent practice is winning awards in Ayrshire. On Brodoclea Woodland Farm, high in the hills near the little town of Dalry, David Carruth is putting 160 hairy Hungarian Mangalitza pigs to good work. They graze among the oak, silver birch, hazel, alder, rowan and poplar trees and, by disrupting the ground, the greedy hogs not only improve the soil health but also encourage wildflowers to flourish. The aim is that the flowers attract a variety of insects and pollinators, which in turn bring in an array of bird and mammal species.

Something similar is happening on the Knepp Estate in Sussex where hardy, self-sufficient Tamworth pigs are getting their long snouts into the soil. They’re unearthing grubs, worms, ants and spiders to provide a tasty meal for wildlife and power-charging seed germination at the same time.

This behaviour is having a direct impact on the environment and it’s something that’s almost impossible to achieve without the help of a handy hog. Slowly but surely, pigs are losing their reputation as beasts of destruction and gaining a name for themselves as environmental engineers.

Read more of Adam's columns

Top image: Mangalitza pigs. Credit: Getty

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