There are certain seasons...wet seasons that you need to dry lot them if you do not want them doing free landscaping for you. I still insist that they know more about hydrology than any of us. But keep the pigs and give them a sacrificial dry lot when the weather is less then ideal. Think of a pasture you sacrifice each season. Not confinement, just management. Hey I still don't have it all figured out. I have just learned in these last 10 years of having pastured hogs that there are times when it is best to give them less options. Then it is total joy when you give them that fresh growth back. You got this. Oh! And breed down in size. I have Old Spots/Berk hogs and the large hogs could not keep their form over winter. So breeding them down and keeping those that keep their form over winter is key. Not sure if you have Winter there, but rain season for example.
Thanks for the updated video,sorry for your dilemma I'm hoping you will continue with your best breed of pork and the best technique of raising them.I'm sure you'll come out the end of this hurtle with a great solution we will all learn from,keep the life lessons of homesteading off grid in the Amazon in Ecuador 20:31 coming,atways enjoying them😊😊😊
Clay makes good bricks for your dry lot. You have great resources. Also look for your local wild hog to breed down with your hogs. You two seem to really have this figured out already, but just need to step back and shake off the fog of being stuck in it day after day. Same problems here. I like that you have a number of paddocks or pastures to rotate them through. A small paddock with more stones and even wood, logs etc would be a good "dry" lot or it won't be dry but a paddock you will sacrifice when its wet. Now if Ecuador is wet all the time, then you may have to do more confining them on that sacrificial piece of ground then out working for you in the other paddocks. I imagine you can grow greenery easily. If so, you may not need the long rest periods for your paddocks as I would here in Ohio. It is also clay here and a lot of differential in elevation. Hills not mountains on my homestead. But clay, mud and wet for sure here.
Fascinating and great Information. I know zero about farming but with 30 odd acres that these folks have there must be some way of getting this worked out !
Interestingly, the only muddy places are where the vegetation and topsoil have been disturbed (piggies). Otherwise, we manage to be surprisingly un-muddy!
If you can figure out how to transport them and all the logistics, you should loan your pigs out to others who need their services on their own land. You could maybe charge a small fee for your trouble too.
Remarkable animals. But they are indeed destructive. Personally I wouldn't be able to put in the work, but now that you've got everything set up and are used to this quality of food, I understand why you'd be unwilling to give them up.
Why do yo let the animals live in mud and thow their food in the mud? It makes me sad to see that you don't know that pigs don't live in mud. They cool them self in mud and use it to avoid insects, but they dont like to eat it any more that people do
They actually eat out of dishes twice a day, quite happily. Pigs do, indeed, love mud. They wallow and muck around in it very happily. Pigs are healthiest when they are able to root around in, and yes consume, mud. They derive a good portion of their minerals from the earth. In fact, we don't have to supplement our piglets with iron, as is typical, because they are on earth from day one. Ideally, they would have both mud and harder, drier earth to choose from and that's what we're working towards.
@@jdsantibanezI don’t think you can mention a single species of wild pigs, that has mud as it’s habitat. Y don’t even think you can mention a species. Domesticated pigs many places live in mud, because humans with little knowledge build fences around a too small area and let the pigs live there untill they kill them. The enclosure get muddy, and the human thinks the pigs like mud 24/7. I have had pigs for years running free on our farm in paraguay, and do NOT choose mud, except for cooling them self.
There are certain seasons...wet seasons that you need to dry lot them if you do not want them doing free landscaping for you. I still insist that they know more about hydrology than any of us. But keep the pigs and give them a sacrificial dry lot when the weather is less then ideal. Think of a pasture you sacrifice each season. Not confinement, just management. Hey I still don't have it all figured out. I have just learned in these last 10 years of having pastured hogs that there are times when it is best to give them less options. Then it is total joy when you give them that fresh growth back. You got this. Oh! And breed down in size. I have Old Spots/Berk hogs and the large hogs could not keep their form over winter. So breeding them down and keeping those that keep their form over winter is key. Not sure if you have Winter there, but rain season for example.
From the couple soon to be living in Cotacachi, we have an admiration for what you are doing and how you are doing it.
Good Luck Guys on your Journey !!
Thanks for the updated video,sorry for your dilemma I'm hoping you will continue with your best breed of pork and the best technique of raising them.I'm sure you'll come out the end of this hurtle with a great solution we will all learn from,keep the life lessons of homesteading off grid in the Amazon in Ecuador 20:31 coming,atways enjoying them😊😊😊
Clay makes good bricks for your dry lot. You have great resources. Also look for your local wild hog to breed down with your hogs. You two seem to really have this figured out already, but just need to step back and shake off the fog of being stuck in it day after day. Same problems here. I like that you have a number of paddocks or pastures to rotate them through. A small paddock with more stones and even wood, logs etc would be a good "dry" lot or it won't be dry but a paddock you will sacrifice when its wet. Now if Ecuador is wet all the time, then you may have to do more confining them on that sacrificial piece of ground then out working for you in the other paddocks. I imagine you can grow greenery easily. If so, you may not need the long rest periods for your paddocks as I would here in Ohio. It is also clay here and a lot of differential in elevation. Hills not mountains on my homestead. But clay, mud and wet for sure here.
Fascinating and great Information. I know zero about farming but with 30 odd acres that these folks have there must be some way of getting this worked out !
@@owenconnolly3041 It is a challenge, we have mud here as well in Ohio. It gets brutal when your stuck in it.
It gets very muddy there I see - Have a great week and hope you find solutions for your issues♦
Interestingly, the only muddy places are where the vegetation and topsoil have been disturbed (piggies). Otherwise, we manage to be surprisingly un-muddy!
The most important part of all of this? You have BACON ! 😁
If you can figure out how to transport them and all the logistics, you should loan your pigs out to others who need their services on their own land. You could maybe charge a small fee for your trouble too.
Remarkable animals. But they are indeed destructive. Personally I wouldn't be able to put in the work, but now that you've got everything set up and are used to this quality of food, I understand why you'd be unwilling to give them up.
It does often feel like a ton of work. But we just CAN'T go back to store-bought or commercially raised pork now. So creativity time!
Why do yo let the animals live in mud and thow their food in the mud? It makes me sad to see that you don't know that pigs don't live in mud. They cool them self in mud and use it to avoid insects, but they dont like to eat it any more that people do
They actually eat out of dishes twice a day, quite happily. Pigs do, indeed, love mud. They wallow and muck around in it very happily. Pigs are healthiest when they are able to root around in, and yes consume, mud. They derive a good portion of their minerals from the earth. In fact, we don't have to supplement our piglets with iron, as is typical, because they are on earth from day one. Ideally, they would have both mud and harder, drier earth to choose from and that's what we're working towards.
Pigs live in mud. That's their natural habitat.
@@jdsantibanezI don’t think you can mention a single species of wild pigs, that has mud as it’s habitat. Y don’t even think you can mention a species. Domesticated pigs many places live in mud, because humans with little knowledge build fences around a too small area and let the pigs live there untill they kill them. The enclosure get muddy, and the human thinks the pigs like mud 24/7. I have had pigs for years running free on our farm in paraguay, and do NOT choose mud, except for cooling them self.