New Forest Pannage Pigs

[Keith Talbot]

Its that time of year again when the New Forest is alive with the sound of snorting!

For a couple of months Commoners are aloud to let their pigs loose on the Forest to hoover up fallen acorns which are poisonous to ponies and cattle.

It can be quite a sight when your wandering peacefully through the Forest and a dozen or so Pigs turn up!

Its like a stampede,they can be gone as quick as they arrived!

[Kayleigh]

That's a great sight, wonder how the farmers catch them again and do they mate with the wild boar I wonder..
The pigs not the farmers

[Beekeeper]

Firstly to answer your question Kayleigh, no the pigs let out in the forest do not mate with wild boar as there are none in this area, i doubt very much if there ever will be due to the commoners.

As for catching the pigs after they have cleared up all the acorns, generally that is quite easy, the pigs tend to stay in the area they were released into and all the owner has to do is find them and usually with the aid of a bucket of food they are quite quickly led to a waiting trailer to take them home, sometimes its even easier than that as some of the owners just let them out of their gates onto the forest, those of course with direct forest access.

Keith.
It never ceases to amaze me the stupidity of some people when it comes to pigs, last year i was driving locally and at the entrance of a gravel track to some forestry cottages were several cars parked right across the track at all angles and a bunch of peple were all hudded together, as i got nearer, i realised what was happening, one of the idiots had stopped to watch the pigs, instead of just letting his children view from the inside of the car, they all got out and dad presumably picked up a piglet and handed to one of the children to stroke with the sow watching very closely. The rest of the group were all snapping away with mobile phone cameras.

I know the sow and she is a soft old thing but had she not been and took offence at her young being handled, she could have easily bit right through that childs leg.

Why are people such utter fools?

[Keith Talbot]

Thanks for answering Kayleigh's question Beekeeper,i was wondering how they got them back

It still annoys me when they stop for the ponies,they could park in any car park and find them in the forest but no they have to stop on the roadside and all pile out of the car for a picture!

Sorry rant over! im glad summers over

I do like to see the pigs,it adds such character to the Forest

[Deer Stalker]

Originally Posted by Beekeeper

Keith.
It never ceases to amaze me the stupidity of some people when it comes to pigs, last year i was driving locally and at the entrance of a gravel track to some forestry cottages were several cars parked right across the track at all angles and a bunch of peple were all hudded together, as i got nearer, i realised what was happening, one of the idiots had stopped to watch the pigs, instead of just letting his children view from the inside of the car, they all got out and dad presumably picked up a piglet and handed to one of the children to stroke with the sow watching very closely. The rest of the group were all snapping away with mobile phone cameras.

I know the sow and she is a soft old thing but had she not been and took offence at her young being handled, she could have easily bit right through that childs leg.

Why are people such utter fools?

Some sows aren't so easy going. A few years ago a jogger got bit on the leg because he got between a sow & her piglets.
A sow of some freinds out on the Forest at the mo is very easy going but she wouldn't tolerate strangers picking up her piglets.

If you see this happening, & you feel up to it have a word with these people, if not phone the Forestry Commission.

Nice pics as always Keith

[Kayleigh]

Originally Posted by Beekeeper

Firstly to answer your question Kayleigh, no the pigs let out in the forest do not mate with wild boar as there are none in this area, i doubt very much if there ever will be due to the commoners.

As for catching the pigs after they have cleared up all the acorns, generally that is quite easy, the pigs tend to stay in the area they were released into and all the owner has to do is find them and usually with the aid of a bucket of food they are quite quickly led to a waiting trailer to take them home, sometimes its even easier than that as some of the owners just let them out of their gates onto the forest, those of course with direct forest access.

Keith.
It never ceases to amaze me the stupidity of some people when it comes to pigs, last year i was driving locally and at the entrance of a gravel track to some forestry cottages were several cars parked right across the track at all angles and a bunch of peple were all hudded together, as i got nearer, i realised what was happening, one of the idiots had stopped to watch the pigs, instead of just letting his children view from the inside of the car, they all got out and dad presumably picked up a piglet and handed to one of the children to stroke with the sow watching very closely. The rest of the group were all snapping away with mobile phone cameras.

I know the sow and she is a soft old thing but had she not been and took offence at her young being handled, she could have easily bit right through that childs leg.

Why are people such utter fools?

Thanks for the info Beekeeper, I always wondered about this now I know.

[Beekeeper]

Originally Posted by Keith Talbot

Thanks for answering Kayleigh's question Beekeeper,i was wondering how they got them back

It still annoys me when they stop for the ponies,they could park in any car park and find them in the forest but no they have to stop on the roadside and all pile out of the car for a picture!

Sorry rant over! im glad summers over

I do like to see the pigs,it adds such character to the Forest

I know what you mean, it annoys me too, and yes, pigs do add to the character of the forest, some of the holiday makers dont feel the same way though when the pigs invade their tents and eat/destroy everything within.

Ian

[Alex90]

Hi,

Is it just one particular breed of pigs that they allow to roam the forest? or are there several?

With regards to people stopping to watch ponies i had to laugh on tuesday at a group of 7 or 8 tourists watching a pony from the track on one side of the track yet 40 meters away on the other side of the track was a group of 4/5 red deer that had obviously been alerted by the commotion they were causing over the pony.... not one of them had spotted the deer!

Alex

[Beekeeper]

Originally Posted by Deer Stalker

Some sows aren't so easy going. A few years ago a jogger got bit on the leg because he got between a sow & her piglets.
A sow of some freinds out on the Forest at the mo is very easy going but she wouldn't tolerate strangers picking up her piglets.

If you see this happening, & you feel up to it have a word with these people, if not phone the Forestry Commission.

Nice pics as always Keith

I agree Keith, my trade is electrician and quite a while ago a was working for a darn good friend who owned the last dairy farm in the village,(he has since died of leukeamia).

I had a light to fix in the pig sty but the grumpy old sow wouldn't let me anywhere near, so the farmer went in with a bamboo stick to fend her off, they it seems, dont like bamboo across their rumps.

Anyway, to cut a rambling story short the pig won and we both ended up scaling the concrete wall of the pig sty.

Ian

[Beekeeper]

Originally Posted by Alex90

Hi,

Is it just one particular breed of pigs that they allow to roam the forest? or are there several?

With regards to people stopping to watch ponies i had to laugh on tuesday at a group of 7 or 8 tourists watching a pony from the track on one side of the track yet 40 meters away on the other side of the track was a group of 4/5 red deer that had obviously been alerted by the commotion they were causing over the pony.... not one of them had spotted the deer!

Alex

Hi Alex,

the simple answer to that is if a person has forest rights, as i have, i can let out any breed of pig i like onto the forest, the only downside is that i would probably loose a few friends if i let out for instance, a Gloucester old spot when everyone else was letting out a different breed, the old foresters like to keep pure stock, which is something i totally agree with and to mess up a breeding program by introducing another species would not go down very well.

Ian