Woolly pigs in the woods

Early in February, Johanna Norris visited Brodoclea Woodland Farm to learn how pigs can be good for woodland, and woodland can be good for pigs.

A report from 2021 showed that 62.5% of breeding sows in Scotland were raised in outdoor systems. Outdoor doesn’t necessarily mean “free-range” and there is even less information available about free range pigs within tree systems. So earlier this month I decided to visit one such system and find out more.

Not just any old pig

Mangalitsas are a semi-wild heritage breed of pig, originally from Hungary. They were first brought to the UK in 2006, and they constitute a very small proportion of pork sold. They are a hardy breed of pig, making them ideal for free-range systems in more remote, hostile environments, and are curious beasts with a coat of wiry, curly black, red and blonde hair which makes them pretty unique!

Originally an upland sheep farm, when the Future Forest Company bought the land at Brodoclea in North Ayrshire, planting was already underway and now the mixed species stand is between nine and 13 years old. Conservation grazing has been part of the Brodoclea Woodland Farm story from the beginning, and currently 83 Mangalitsa pigs (double in May/June), supervised by David Carruth, have been managing the understory and ending their lives as high quality pork, available to buy from the Woolly Pig Company.

Woodland for pigs

To help the pigs access a diverse range of foraging options and split the herd into groups to keep them strong and healthy, David divided the 175ha at Brodoclea into 21 paddocks, with four areas never grazed, and put up lots of fencing to allow 9–12 weeks of recovery after the pigs have been through. This also gives the ground a chance to recover from the pigs’ activities.

The pigs get some supplement feed (sugar beet, wheat and molasses) every morning, more in winter, less in summer, but the rest of the time they’re out foraging for themselves.

They like the starchy rhizomes of bracken, especially in winter when there is less juicy ground cover to munch on, weakening the plant and reducing its infestation. As for tree fodder, David has only once spotted them bending down some sycamore branches to get to the leaves. But he says the meat is most flavourful in the winter because of the acorns on the woodland floor, which the pigs feast on in the autumn.

The herd has had very few issues with disease and mortality is good, probably because of the varied diet they get and exposure to the outdoors. Although exposure is perhaps the greatest risk, the pigs are protective in their herd, use denser conifer species stands for shelter, and resort back to more open, broadleaved stands for foraging.

Pigs for woodland

When the pigs root up bracken rhizomes with their snouts, they’re also churning up the soil, working in vegetation and manure, and bringing dormant seeds up to the surface to give them a chance to germinate. There hasn’t yet been a biodiversity or soil study done on Brodoclea’s land, but when you go there, even in winter you can see how healthy the soil and groundcover is.

As well as potentially restoring the seedbank, the pigs also play an important role in the food chain. For example, among the 63 species of bird surveyed so far, there are three pairs of breeding kestrels on site and the pigs’ foraging reduces cover for voles to move around in, helping the bird of prey’s hunt. If vole numbers are reduced the woodland benefits from less damage to trees.

The site at Brodoclea is wet in areas; the Mangalitsas dig scrapes through the rushes. They have never had any issues with their feet and they seem to enjoy paddling around in the pools, looking for things to forage in the water.

Pigs for climate

Did you know that the carbon footprint of pigs is about four times lower per kilogram of protein than lamb or beef? Put the pigs in between the trees and it’s easy to see how this can be a very climate-friendly way of farming.

Paired with the fact that we import a lot of pork into Scotland, because we eat more pork than we produce, it seems to me like there’s a very real opportunity to couple trees with free-range pig breeds. And we already have a site which demonstrates how it works, with David and the Mangalitsas at Brodoclea.

You can watch David's talk from the Oxford Real Farming Conference 2025 here.