"Four Legs good..."

-->

Courier Countryside Column Friday 15^th March

And speaking of pigs … Myrtle and I were walking on the South Downs the other day when we were confronted by pig arks as far as the eye could see, and around 3000 porkers roaming the hills.

Some friends were leaving Tunbridge Wells and building a new house on the edge of the pretty village of Steyning.  Then the pigs arrived on the hill behind them. We were invited over to judge their impact on the new National Park.

My first instinct was to side with the farmer. Livestock is really struggling, hit by huge hikes in feed prices and declining EU subsidies.

It’s particularly tough for pig production which costs around 170p per kilo. That’s higher than the market price, meaning a loss of around £14 per pig sold.

From the window of our friends' new living room it didn’t look TOO bad. Obviously one might prefer NOT to see dozens of curved corrugated-iron stys stretching up the hill, but were tales of slurry running down the slope and threatening local houses possibly exaggerated?

However as we climbed the South Downs Way I began to see their point.  I know they can’t help it, but pigs do smell.  And 3000 pigs smell a lot. While it was lovely to see piglets running wild, and free-range piggeries are surely to be welcomed, they were churning up the hillside.  In fact tractor tyres and pig trotters seemed to have all but destroyed the traditional grass sward.

Horses particularly dislike pigs and one rider on the long distance path is reported to have been thrown while others complain it’s become a no-go area.

Above all objectors argue that pig farming on this scale makes nonsense of the National Park’s objectives - to conserve and enhance its natural beauty, wildlife and cultural heritage.  But the Park says there are no planning issues involved and they have to balance their duty to the public and to those who legitimately farm the area.

It’s the sort of dilemma that occurs regularly between country residents and people who work the land. Over the years round me in Kent, farmers have taken out hedgerows, encroached on woodland and clogged lanes with ever bigger vehicles.  But they provide the food on my plate which I prefer to be as locally sourced as possible – so the conflict of interests is unlikely to be resolved.