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!
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