Pannage is the common right to turn pigs out (the word pannage means the food that pigs can find on the ground in a forest, especially acorns and other fruit dropping from trees). The ‘pannage season’ is the time of year when pigs are allowed to live out in the Forest. The job of the pigs is to eat the acorns, which are poisonous to the other animals.
The dates of the pannage season are set by the Verderers (see V). Usually the pannage season runs from September to December, but the season can be extended if there’s a particularly heavy acorn crop.