Search
Better Farming OntarioBetter PorkBetter Farming Prairies

Better Pork Featured Articles

Better Pork magazine is published bimonthly. After each edition is published, we share featured articles online.


Acorn-eating pigs save ponies

Thursday, December 5, 2013

After a wet spring and a dry summer, there's a bumper crop of acorns in the Hampshire woodland on the southern coast of England. That's bad news for the region's famous New Forest ponies. In a Daily Mail article, top forest official Jonathan Gerelli said: 'The problem is that our ponies like the acorns but the acorns don't like them. If they eat them, they tend to start to bleed internally and die a horrible death."

But the acorns aren't poisonous to pigs, so every year in about mid-September local farmers let their pigs loose in the forest to save the ponies from themselves by eating the fallen acorns first. This practice is known as "pannage," and has been going on in the region since the 19th century, when some 6,000 pigs would forage. These days, the number is usually around 200, though the unusually high amount of acorns called for double the pigs this year. After about 60 days in the 70,000-acre forest, the pigs are rounded up and returned to their farms. As a side benefit, pannage fattens up the pigs for Christmas. BP

Current Issue

August 2025

Better Pork Magazine

Farms.com Swine News

Quebec Coroner Calls for Slurry Pit Safety

Monday, September 8, 2025

A Quebec coroner is urging the province’s professional farmers association to increase awareness about the dangers of slurry pits, following a tragic incident that claimed the lives of two farmers in 2024. According to the Canadian Press based on a report by Coroner Nancy Bouchard, a... Read this article online

Canadian Pork Council Welcomes New Farm Support

Monday, September 8, 2025

The Canadian Pork Council (CPC) has welcomed Prime Minister Mark Carney’s announcement of new support for agriculture producers facing increasing trade uncertainty. The decision recognizes the challenges that sectors like pork, canola, and seafood face when caught in global tariff... Read this article online

BF logo

It's farming. And it's better.

 

a Farms.com Company

Subscriptions

Subscriber inquiries, change of address, or USA and international orders, please email: subscriptions@betterfarming.com or call 888-248-4893 x 281.


Article Ideas & Media Releases

Have a story idea or media release? If you want coverage of an ag issue, trend, or company news, please email us.

Follow us on Social Media

 

Sign up to a Farms.com Newsletter

 

DisclaimerPrivacy Policy2025 ©AgMedia Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Back To Top