pannage
/ˈpanɪdʒ
/noun [mass noun] chiefly historical
1The right of feeding pigs or other animals in a wood.Pannage, or Common of Mast, stretches back to medieval times and allows commoners, as landowners in the area are known, to graze pigs in the forest.
1.1Pasturage for pigs in woodland: the putting of pigs out to pannage...
- These shared the general characteristics of being long in the leg and body, covered in wiry hair, and slow to fatten; similar pigs roamed in France and Germany, still kept at pannage with a swineherd.
- Pannage always lasts 60 days but the start date varies according to the weather - and when the acorns fall.
- Pannage is an ancient practice to fatten pigs before slaughter and salting for the winter.
Origin
Late Middle English: from Old French pasnage, from medieval Latin pastionaticum, from pastio(n-) 'pasturing', from the verb pascere 'to feed'.