HAVE you ever made the mistake of buying with your heart rather than with your head? Of wanting to buy into a dream so desperately that you have wilfully ignored the obvious? Or pig-headedly refused to listen to the wise counsel of those around you?

As a rule, I am not generally given to impetuous behaviour, but when I saw a certain smallholding advertised for sale, I was smitten. It was not the house, lovely though it was, that thrilled me. It was the woods, complete with fairytale stream and waterfalls and 18 acres of steeply-sloping, shallow-soiled, impoverished "empire" that hooked me. So we moved. Lock, stock and two smoking barrels, from central London to mid Wales.

As our first summer progressed, however, I could see less and less of the "empire" due to the increasingly rampant bracken. Finally, when I could no longer even make it to my washing line, or stroll to the little stream without panga and pith helmet, I was goaded into action.

From a little basic research I discovered that there are five basic methods of controlling bracken:
1. Repeated cutting/mowing
2. Bruising
3. Herbicide
4. Breaking up the soil surface and removing the rhizomes
5. Heavy shade, (although this is not possible in open ground situations).

Methods 1 and 2 weaken the plant by a slow process of attrition, depleting the energy stored in the rhizomes, while 3 and 4 constitute a more "direct action" approach. Method 5 reduces further encroachment due to reduced ability to photosynthesise.

Our first move was to enlist the services of a lawnmower expert, who inspected our problem within the "garden". He brought with him various machines, and cut me a path right through to the washing line. And so it was that we began our necessary love affair with petrol-fuelled power tools, and over the course of a year, with the aid of a massive bush cutter with cutting wheel, and a souped-up mower, we reclaimed the garden. Four years on, we are still cutting bi-weekly to keep the bracken out of the garden.

For the whole hillside, however, (some 6 ha), we needed help of a different kind, as the bracken was up to eight feet in height at its tallest, with every walk followed by very unpleasant task of mutual de-ticking.

In order to turn the bracken forest into a tree forest, the bracken first had to be cleared, or at least controlled, and the ground sufficiently scarified for self-sown seed to germinate or planted saplings not to be immediately overwhelmed. We wanted to regenerate the woodland margins naturally, but also use planting in open sites, to increase our total area under woodland by about 1.5 times.

I realise that certain sites are important for their bracken communities, such as south-facing hill slopes with violets underneath. This is a rare and important habitat for pearl bordered fritillary butterflies, but having invited CCW to come and check that there was nothing of special scientific interest there first, we felt fully justified in trying to eradicate as much bracken as possible. And the creation of a "buffer zone" to protect the flatter, more fertile areas for which we had definite plans, made a great deal of sense.

Due to the steepness of the slopes at the top of the smallholding, the rocky outcrops concealed by dense bracken litter and the size of the area affected, our options were rather limited: Some 3ha (of former unimproved grassland), was totally infested, and an area of equal size, (comprising woodland margin/woodland), had been partially infiltrated. Lacking any machinery or livestock capable of cutting, ploughing or bruising, we were only left with one option.

Mike from Coed Cymru, who helped me access the Forestry Commission's (FC),Woodland Grant Scheme, (WGS), visited, took pictures, and suggested we use asulox, (herbicide treatment of choice for bracken), as a starting point. As our land lies adjacent to Seven Trent's filter beds, any proposal of this type is subject to a full risk assessment of water pollution. Fortunately, Welsh Water decided that we could go ahead if we employed a team of specialist contractors who were only allowed to spray using backpacks.

Asulox is ideally applied in from late June to late July in dry conditions with little wind. Over winter the chemical is absorbed back down from the fronds and into the rhizomes, weakening the plant, if not killing it outright. It is difficult to apply evenly, even for experts, (especially when it fronds are shoulder-height plus). A summer later, (June 2004), it became clear that the treatment had not worked satisfactorily, areas had been missed and the treatment not worked as well as planned so the company obligingly came back to re-spray. In those places where the asulox treatment was effective, the bracken fronds were knee-high at most, stunted, weak, straggly and brown.

I wanted to find a solution to our bracken problem that would be effective, eco-friendly and less expensive than asulox applied by specialist contractors. From articles published on the internet about work that was being done elsewhere in the country, I came to believe that using pigs to control bracken and manage our existing woodland could be the answer. Not just any old livestock will do: Sheep will not touch bracken,(in my experience), cattle only bruise it, but with pigs, you get three bracken-clearing actions for the price of one: They bruise, (by trampling), cut,(by eating young fronds), and plough-up the ground, (often leaving long strands of rhizome exposed on the soil surface).

So I signed-up for a couple of courses at the local agricultural college, and found out about the work done by the Wales and Border Counties Pig Breeders' Association.

It was love at first sight when I saw the Tamworth breed: Intelligent (and dare I say it, attractive) , they are a woodland pig, with long strong jaws that are perfect for this type of work.

Therefore, in spite of much advice to the contrary, by the knowledgeable and well-meaning, (who counselled a middle-aged urbanite novice to go for "docile" to begin with), I listened to only those who agreed with me, (thanks Mum, Barbara and Carole).

Having completed a couple of courses at Holme Lacey College, I borrowed a trailer and brought home two Tamworth gilts.

The plan for ground clearance consists of using a series of temporary pens, bounded by electric fencing, first to "strip graze" the land marked-out for natural regeneration, and then to tackle the areas of plain bracken. At about six months, ie end of August 2005, we started moving them monthly, increasing their enclosure area as they grew.

It might be worth mentioning the fact that FC Wales offers Woodland Improvement grants toward the cost of the electric fencing to encourage the natural regeneration processes of woodland if grazing is part of the your agreed long-term management plan.

As we are still in the early stages of this enterprise, and have only cleared the woodland margins, and put in 1800 trees, it's difficult to evaluate how things are going. We have had several visits from Coed Cymru, two from the Forestry Commission and an EOR (Environmental Opportunity Review), all of which have been very positive.

We have found that using pigs in this way to clear the land has several major benefits:

1. Their use is environmentally sustainable, mixing-up bracken mulch and their own dung into extremely impoverished soil, whilst producing no C02 emissions due to burning fossil fuels.

2. There is the potential for a cash crop in the form of piglets, (provided of course that you use gilts/sows). A boar has just left my gilts, and they are both hopefully in pig.

3. Pigs can deal with difficult terrain, clearing areas where expensive machinery could not gain access.

4. While they have rooted-up bracken, bramble and nettle roots, the pigs have exposed, but largely left alone, other flora, such as foxglove, bluebells, celandine, saplings and violets on the bracken margins. (Unfortunately, they have also refused to root up the dock).

5. They have also uncovered an amazing amount of "farm rubbish": Items like rusty fencing, old buckets, barbed wire and horseshoes have been unearthed by their effort and cleared by ours.

6. Going-out to feed the gilts twice a day contributes significantly to anyone's fitness regime.

7. The pig's rotovating produces a perfect seedbed for sowing seed, (birch in my case), around the existing woodland margins.

8. Excess bracken litter is excellent as a mulch for the vegetable garden, once the pigs have broken it all up.

There are always drawbacks to any plan, the main ones concerned with the type of land we are trying to clear.

1. Potential for soil erosion/compaction: As our slopes are so steep, and bracken is a virtual monoculture, any clearing will, unless very carefully managed, result in a degree of soil erosion. Soil compaction is another pitfall, as pig's trotters, (stiletto heel/parquet floor effect), do tend to poach the ground. Likewise, their strong drive to root up the ground in wet as well as dry weather can leave you with a mud bath. Both phenomena can cause the development of serious hardpans where the soil's capacity for water retention can be reduced to nearly nil.

2. The labour-intensive nature of the job: As the pigs clear more ground, they get further away from the house. Two supplementary feeds/welfare checks per day, can be difficult to fit-in with your existing routine, as can the setting-up of temporary enclosures, especially if you are working alone. Likewise their current enclosure must be monitored regularly to avoid damaging more delicate ground flora, as some plants are less resistant than others to rapid changes in soil conditions.

3. Irrigation: Pigs need constant access to water. We have eventually evolved a system of pipes/streams/gravity feed after we had a disastrous time with a header tank which ensued in an emergency visit from a rugged-looking team from Welsh Water, (but that's another story). And as the year progresses, I am sure it will continue to be an issue.

4. If your pigs are on bracken they must be fed a supplementary diet, as bracken alone is deficient in thiamine.

5. There are high levels of cyanide present in emergent bracken shoots. The pigs do not seem to be at all interested in eating the smallest shoots, but will take them when their fronds have unfurled a bit. Maybe this is why sheep choose not to browse on bracken.

As far as conclusions to our little experiment with pigs goes, it is too soon to tell, though I have a few comments to offer as food for thought to anyone thinking of trying something similar:

1. Bracken, as we have discovered, is extremely vigorous, and so I freely admit I was wrong to be so reluctant to start-off with an "asulox aperitif". The asulox really seems to have knocked-back the plant, where it has taken, giving the pigs a chance to gain the upper hand with their bruising/cutting/ploughing-up technique.

2. Clearance by pig, (depending on how many you have), is a slow, slow process that must be carefully monitored both for land and livestock welfare.

3. From the areas cleared so far it looks as though the enclosures cleared in the late summer to late autumn periods may be less prone to bracken re-growth than those done over winter: This may be due to the many frosts we had in the valley over this period, and the pig's inability to root into frozen ground.

4. Your eventual success at bracken clearance will only be as good as that of your neighbour's: If you are serious, suggest you tackle it together, or that they at least cut theirs at your boundary several times a year, to keep it weakened, (our neighbour to our east kindly does this for us). If you back on to a common as we do, a buffer zone comprised of dense, light-poor woodland to deny the bracken both habitat and vital sunlight, could be your most viable option.

5. I have found pig-keeping in this context to be a highly-enjoyable and satisfying occupation, and maybe, (once you can't get to your own washing line), you will too.

6. A by-product (so to speak) are healthy weaners which I nearly always have for sale.

  • Meet Sanna at the RWAS Smallholder and Garden Festival on the Breckon and Radnor Beekeepers' stand.