• Contact us
  • About us
  • Digital edition
  • Online archive
Saturday, July 26, 2025
Cumberland and Westmorland Herald
  • News
    Arrest following violent disorder in Pooley Bridge

    Arrest following violent disorder in Pooley Bridge

    Work starts on multi-use games area in Penrith

    Work starts on multi-use games area in Penrith

    Penrith businessman bitten by dog

    Penrith businessman bitten by dog

    End of road for Cumbria Classic Coaches after 28 years

    End of road for Cumbria Classic Coaches after 28 years

    Farm diversification project set to blossom

    Farm diversification project set to blossom

    71-year-old cyclist gets on his bike to Rome

    71-year-old cyclist gets on his bike to Rome

    Appleby car park and road to close for flood work

    Appleby car park and road to close for flood work

    Road closure plans for essential bridge repairs

    Road closure plans for essential bridge repairs

    Penrith drug dealer jailed

    Penrith drug dealer jailed

  • Sport
    Teen golfer George Curry lines up with world’s best players

    Teen golfer George Curry lines up with world’s best players

    Ullswater Community College footballers make history

    Ullswater Community College footballers make history

    New management set to lead Appleby Football Club

    New management set to lead Appleby Football Club

    Success for fighting squad

    Success for fighting squad

    Penrith skipper Nicky Burns calls on team to keep winning

    Penrith skipper Nicky Burns calls on team to keep winning

    £100,000 target for new changing rooms extension

    £100,000 target for new changing rooms extension

    Medal success for Upper Eden tug-of-war team

    Medal success for Upper Eden tug-of-war team

    Eden man competes in Hyrox World Games

    Eden man competes in Hyrox World Games

    Double national triumph for Stuart Robinson

    Double national triumph for Stuart Robinson

  • Obituaries
  • Nostalgia
  • Online archive
  • Buy Photos
  • Buy your paper
  • North Lakes Living
No Result
View All Result
Cumberland and Westmorland Herald
  • News
    Arrest following violent disorder in Pooley Bridge

    Arrest following violent disorder in Pooley Bridge

    Work starts on multi-use games area in Penrith

    Work starts on multi-use games area in Penrith

    Penrith businessman bitten by dog

    Penrith businessman bitten by dog

    End of road for Cumbria Classic Coaches after 28 years

    End of road for Cumbria Classic Coaches after 28 years

    Farm diversification project set to blossom

    Farm diversification project set to blossom

    71-year-old cyclist gets on his bike to Rome

    71-year-old cyclist gets on his bike to Rome

    Appleby car park and road to close for flood work

    Appleby car park and road to close for flood work

    Road closure plans for essential bridge repairs

    Road closure plans for essential bridge repairs

    Penrith drug dealer jailed

    Penrith drug dealer jailed

  • Sport
    Teen golfer George Curry lines up with world’s best players

    Teen golfer George Curry lines up with world’s best players

    Ullswater Community College footballers make history

    Ullswater Community College footballers make history

    New management set to lead Appleby Football Club

    New management set to lead Appleby Football Club

    Success for fighting squad

    Success for fighting squad

    Penrith skipper Nicky Burns calls on team to keep winning

    Penrith skipper Nicky Burns calls on team to keep winning

    £100,000 target for new changing rooms extension

    £100,000 target for new changing rooms extension

    Medal success for Upper Eden tug-of-war team

    Medal success for Upper Eden tug-of-war team

    Eden man competes in Hyrox World Games

    Eden man competes in Hyrox World Games

    Double national triumph for Stuart Robinson

    Double national triumph for Stuart Robinson

  • Obituaries
  • Nostalgia
  • Online archive
  • Buy Photos
  • Buy your paper
  • North Lakes Living
No Result
View All Result
Cumberland and Westmorland Herald
No Result
View All Result
Home Farm and Countryside

New team of pigs helping natural regeneration at Lowther

by Guy Hurst
23 January 2024
in Farm and Countryside, Latest
A A
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
Nature friendly farming apprentice Elli Foxton and Joe Clements, conservation assistant at Lowther Estate, with some of the Tamworth pigs at work there. Picture: Mark Williamson.

A new team is at work boosting natural regeneration on the Lowther Estate.

Doing their bit for the environment are a small group of Tamworth pigs — a traditional native breed — which are helping drive the natural growth of trees, shrubs and wildflowers.

They achieve this through their natural foraging behaviour, which involves them ploughing through the turf with their snouts in search of worms, grubs and roots. This exposes bare soil and provides the perfect seedbed for a diverse mix of plant life to recolonise woodlands and pastures.

Conservation assistant Joe Clements said: “They are stand-ins for a missing native mammal, the wild boar. Our native trees and wildflowers lived alongside wild boar for thousands of years until they became extinct in the UK.

“So, by allowing the Tamworth pigs to rootle freely through the fields, we are kick-starting a healthy and diverse ecosystem — we are restoring a missing piece of the ecological puzzle.

“It is also brilliant to be a small part of conserving hardy native breeds of livestock — many pig breeds went extinct in the 20th Century as they were no longer deemed commercially viable, including our own local breed the Cumberland pig.

“It is a real shame we will never have Cumberland pigs rootling through Cumbrian woods again, but at least hardy native livestock breeds are being valued once again for their role in regenerative land management.

“Watch out for fat ginger pigs next time you are in the Lowther valley, and watch out for the birds, bees, butterflies and a whole plethora of other wildlife that will follow in their wake as the landscape becomes more diverse in the coming years.”

Joe went on to explain that the estate is attempting to blur the boundaries between woodland and open fields, with the aim being to create a semi-open “wood pasture” landscape where there are pockets of high woodland, scrubby thickets and open glades of wild flower rich grassland.

He added: “This is a much more biodiverse habitat than either woodland or open field on their own. It also offers lots of benefits to the livestock such as shelter in the winter and shade in the summer.”

 One of the most recognisable of the traditional pig breeds, the Tamworth is thought to be the most typical breed descended from the species indigenous to the British Isles, the Old English Forest pig. As with all traditional breeds, the Tamworth is hardy and can be kept in environments ranging from rough pasture to meadowland.

Related Posts

Arrest following violent disorder in Pooley Bridge
Latest

Arrest following violent disorder in Pooley Bridge

26 July 2025
Work starts on multi-use games area in Penrith
Latest

Work starts on multi-use games area in Penrith

26 July 2025
End of road for Cumbria Classic Coaches after 28 years
Latest

End of road for Cumbria Classic Coaches after 28 years

25 July 2025
Farm diversification project set to blossom
Farm and Countryside

Farm diversification project set to blossom

25 July 2025
Penrith drug dealer jailed
Latest

Penrith drug dealer jailed

22 July 2025
Man who damaged Penrith’s Paddington Bear appears in court
Latest

Man who damaged Penrith’s Paddington Bear appears in court

22 July 2025
No Result
View All Result

Stay connected

Facebook Twitter Instagram

Most popular

Ullswater Community College footballers make history

Ullswater Community College footballers make history

25 July 2025
Arrest following violent disorder in Pooley Bridge

Arrest following violent disorder in Pooley Bridge

26 July 2025
Road closure plans for essential bridge repairs

Road closure plans for essential bridge repairs

22 July 2025
Mandatory payrolling of Benefits in Kind delayed

Mandatory payrolling of Benefits in Kind delayed

20 July 2025
Geoff Truckle played pivotal role in village life

Geoff Truckle played pivotal role in village life

25 July 2025
End of road for Cumbria Classic Coaches after 28 years

End of road for Cumbria Classic Coaches after 28 years

25 July 2025
Cumberland and Westmorland Herald Logo

33 Middlegate
Penrith
Cumbria
CA11 7SY

Phone: 01768 862313
Email: news@cwherald.com

Registered in England as Barrnon Media Limited. No: 12475190
VAT registration number: 343486488

Explore

  • News
  • Sport
  • Farming
  • Property
  • Obituaries
  • Nostalgia
  • Your view

Useful links

  • Contact us
  • Photosales
  • Online archive
  • Buy your paper
  • Digital edition
  • North Lakes Living
  • Advertise
  • About us

Follow us on

© Barrnon Media Limited 2025

Terms & Conditions / Privacy Policy / Cookie Policy

This website and its associated newspaper are members of the Independent Press Standards Organisation
Review Your Cart
0
Discount
Add Coupon Code
Subtotal
Total Installment Payments
Bundle Discount
Checkout

 
0
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
  • Sport
  • Obituaries
  • Nostalgia
  • Online archive
  • more
    • North Lakes Living
    • Buy Photos
    • Buy your paper
    • About us
    • Contact us

© 2020 Cumberland & Westmorland Herald