Sheep-Pigs at RSPB Arne! by Chris Baker, RSPB South West
Is it a sheep or is it a pig? It’s a question many people have asked when confronted by a beast that has a sheep’s woolly fleece, but looks like a pig. The large, boar-like animals with a shaggy coat are, in fact... pigs, Mangalitsa pigs to be exact, a breed that was nearly done for by late Twentieth Century dietary mores and Communism.
Mark Singleton, the RSPB’s Estates Manager in Dorset, said: “They are quite cute, quite inquisitive and quite wild looking. You expect it to be a sheep, then you see it’s got a pig’s face.”For the last two winters they have been grazing an area known as Grange Heath, a former conifer plantation being restored to heathland.
So-called primitive breeds such as the Mangalitsa – the result of an early Nineteenth Century cross between three domestic breeds and a wild boar – are more suited to the heavy duty grazing these kinds of restoration projects demand.
“It is still early days, we have done one restoration project but it will be a few years before we really know how well it’s going,” Mark said.
“But the heather is growing so the early signs are good. Other people have seen what we have been doing, so now we have got them on National Trust sites, Forestry Commission sites, and a private site, not necessarily heathland restoration but land that needs clearing.
“The Mangalitsas are the ones that will go in and root around – I guess because they are closer to a wild boar than many pigs and their behaviour is going to be more natural.”
The Mangalitsa was bred in Hungary and quickly acquired a reputation as one of the fattiest, tastiest and strangest pigs around. Strange because of its sheep-like woolly coat; the only other pig noted for having a Mangalitsa-like fleece was the Lincolnshire curly-coated pig, a breed that became extinct in the 1970s. Popular for the best part of a century, the breed began to disappear after Austria-Hungary collapsed following the First World War.
The pig’s name means ‘hog with a lot of lard’ and in modern times, as health conscious shoppers demanded leaner meat, the Mangalitsa fell from favour. Nor did this unusual animal fit well with rigidly planned farming, and under Communism numbers fell to about 200. The Mangalitsa’s fortunes revived in the 1990s – there are now more than 8,000 in Hungary – and one place where they can be seen is at RSPB Arne.
RSPB Arne’s pigs, which, as well as Mangalitsas, include Berkshires – an indigenous rare breed – and some that are crosses between the two, are used as a natural alternative to herbicides and machinery.They are well adapted to rooting out plants that have grown among conifers and need to be removed in areas that are being restored to heathland, a now scarce habitat that has declined by more than 90 per cent since 1900.
Heathland specialists such as Dartford warblers, nightjars, smooth snakes and sand lizards should benefit from the restoration work being done at RSPB Arne. The Mangalitsas themselves are hardy and can stay out all winter, while in summer they lose their shaggy coats, so are happy in summertime temperatures too.
RSPB Arne’s grazing pigs belong to James Warren, who owns the Salt Pig shop and restaurant, in Wareham. He said the Mangalitsas were perfectly suited to the kind of foraging needed for habitat restoration, and produced excellent meat. Fashion has come full circle for the Mangalitsa, its marbled, flavoursome meat is ideal for the taste conscious modern foodie – charcuterie is the Mangalitsa’s particular speciality.
And Warren’s Mangalitsas, Berkshires and Mangalitsa/Berkshire crosses really are outdoor pigs, with more than the small patch of sky afforded their commercial counterparts.
“More and more people are interested to know these animals are able to forage in big areas of open space,” James said. “These have sunlight on their backs and a sea breeze up their noses, they eat brambles, bracken, roots and worms, all the things pigs should eat.”
All Photos by Terry Bagley.
Find out more about Terry here