Page 30 GAP NEWS

There has presumably, down through the

ages, always been conflict between footpath

and bridleway users over their condition. In

the beginning it was probably between walk-

ers, drovers, horse riders and horse drawn

carriages and carts.

Today we can add farm machinery, trail mo-

torcycles, mountain bikes and all terrain four

wheel drive vehicles.

However we can now add a very useful addi-

tion to the ever growing list and it’s Pigs! On

the Knepp Castle estate in West Sussex the

owner Charlie Burrell has entered 3600 acres

of the estate into his own giant ‘re-wilding’

experiment, part funded in Countryside

Stewardship. So far this has included fencing

the boundaries and introducing Longhorn cat-

tle, Exmoor ponies and Tamworth pigs whilst

Roe and Fallow deer were already present.

All the animals are free-ranging and during

the few years this exciting project has been

running it appears to have thrown up as many

questions as answers.

For example, the two families of Tamworths

on their daily roaming excursions regularly

spend time, to the annoyance of all walkers,

enthusiastically ploughing up an ancient pub-

lic footpath that crosses a very large field.

The field went into Countryside Stewardship

in 2004 after several years in cereals, rape

and rye. It was then sown with a recom-

mended grass mixture which had wildflower

seed of several species added by the owner.

At present the pigs are only working to a very

shallow depth and literally just turning over

the turf and exploring the grass roots in a

similar fashion to humans cutting and lifting

turf. By watching the pigs digging it appears

that they will sniff first and then turn over

the turf and are eating earth worms and pre-

sumably large grubs and other unearthed pig

delights.

Having already acquired a reputation as a

‘way out speculator’ by many of the (so-

called) ecologists in our midst it’s exciting to

be able to speculate on the significance of

the pigs digging being confined solely to the

ancient footpath.

Does the pigs work mean that the worms,

which we could call the ‘flagship species’ for

all the soil inhabiting micro-organisms, have

to yet to move even a few centimetres into

the arable reversion and if so why?

As a general principle we have to include

other soil inhabiting micro-organisms because

it might be naïve to only use large visible

earthworms in isolation from the rest of the

ecosystems of the little known world of the

soil.

Perhaps in some ways a contradiction to the

last paragraph but large visible earthworms

could in fact be an indication of a soil ecosys-

tem that is operating. Also can they help us

to begin to consider the ‘world of the soil’

and it is not derogatory to state that the vast

majority of us find the ‘world of the soil’ as

bewildering and incomprehensible as the gal-

axies in the universe.

Therefore if the worms have not moved into

any of the arable reversion does it mean that

the complex ecosystem and fungi, bacteria,

A Rambler’s Nightmare: A personal rant —Ted Green

Ted Green takes a look at our treatment of the countryside, beginning with the free-ranging pigs at Knepp

and taking in conservation grazing, vets, medicines, our food agencies, ecologists—no-one get’s off lightly!

Pigs at Knepp

GAP NEWS Page 31

invertebrates and all the other organisms have

not moved either? This begs the question why?

On the face of it the grasses and wildflowers

appear to be growing. But do they have their

essential mycorryhzal fungal associations? Are

they merely hanging on without what are con-

sidered essential mycorryhzal fungal relation-

ships?* Without their fundamental relation-

ships are the plants just soaking up the inor-

ganic nitrogen applied over the years and un-

able to collect other minerals, nutrients and

above all trace elements normally supplied by

the fungi and bacteria.

Scientists in our Food Agency proclaim that

non-organic food is just as nutritious as Or-

ganic. This is an absolutely ridiculous state-

ment and fundamentally flawed because the

fundamental relationship between fungi, bac-

teria and other micro-organisms and plants in

the uptake of nutrients and trace elements is

ignored or literally not understood by them.

One could assume that they have come to the

conclusion that the addition of pesticides, anti-

biotics and other veterinary product residues,

as administered to plants and also secreted by

animals, are useful additions and compliment

any natural lacking elements.

One could go on to conclude that from the

Food Agency pronouncements that such prod-

ucts as Arsenic, Cyanide and all the other nasty

pesticides dreamed up by man are nutritious

and also of course kill all known diseases in

man!

We should not forget the veterinary profession

either for their obvious motivation in the

health of animals and some cases the subse-

quent profit but not the health of the overall

environment. To date how many veterinary

products are tested against the environment?

Antibiotics secreted by animals kill fungi and

bacteria in the soil and water. The effects of

wormers are well known above ground but

what about the world of the soil? Are they per-

sistent? How do they degrade? When I see a

sign saying ‘Horse Manure 50p a bag’ I want to

change it to ‘Toxic Waste’ for today horse pooh

seldom breaks down, why?

We have a buzz word now which is

‘biodegradable’ and all pooh in the past

obviously was, and often disappeared very

fast. It’s not unreasonable to say that at

least 50% of pests and diseases in grazing

animals are transmitted in the pooh. So it

must follow that non-biodegradable pooh

(dung) means fat vets! Dare we even con-

template a link between persistent pooh,

TB and badgers?

As mentioned before we know so very little

about what our animals rely on and that

must include ourselves – the soil – without

it we perish.

If we start to consider the soil and say to

ourselves ‘If I do this or with the animals

what might happen to the soil ecosystem’?

Then we are beginning our education.

Don’t forget next time you have to use a

vet ask them if the veterinary product

been tested against the environment.

Ted Green Fungi First

* It can generally be assumed that mycorryzhal fungi recede and

are usually lost to plants when inorganic and other chemicals are

applied.

If only pigs could speak!