The field pig wins the battle against hogweed and Japanese knotweed. This is the conclusion of pig farmers Willem and Claudia from the Akkervarken farm in Valthermond. Their grumpy four-legged friends know what to do with these nuisance plants. They eat them carefully.
The grunts are now rooting in the ground in 27 places in Drenthe and Groningen. There they look for giant hogweed or Japanese knotweed. “The roots of the Japanese knotweed are up to two meters long,” says Willem Hempen of Akkervarken. “They don’t like the root itself, but they do like the new shoots because they are nice and juicy.”
This causes the plant to die. “But you have to be patient, because the field pigs need about four to five summers before the Japanese knotweed is completely gone.” The giant hogweed moves a lot faster. “They can master them in two summers. That’s because they eat them up by the roots.”
Not everywhere it is possible to eradicate the exotic species, but in Valthermond they can tell what the secret is after about six years. “It’s all about good management. Knowing when to put them down, good supplementary feeding. After a number of years we have gained that experience.”
Hempen and his colleague Claudia van der Laan are now being asked from all over the Netherlands whether the pigs can be hired. But the animals stay in the north. “You have to be available 24 hours a day,” Hempen explains. “And if there is something, you have to go there. Certainly to feed them, but also if, for example, one breaks out.”
The chance is small that you will encounter the same pigs every year. When they are about one and a half to two years old and have eaten their bellies, they are slaughtered and replaced by small piglets that then go into battle.