OtterlyHappyHogs: pigs on a whim

Written by Nils Otterstrom

January 27, 2026. Edgewood, New Mexico

Earlier this year, my wife, Jessica, asked my mom a simple but pointed question: “Has Nils always been this way?” She was subtly referring to my proclivity to fixate on one or more pet projects, often in rotating categories, going from one idea to the next. The answer was, of course, yes, this has always been my modulus operandi.

As a kid, this tendency resulted in a bunch of minorly annoying, but ultimately inconsequential events. When I was four, I jumped off an apartment building stairwell with a grocery bag as a parachute. Years later, when my parents were gone on a trip with only my grandmother around, I decided to dig up and sell my mom’s strawberry plants. You get the idea.

As an adult, this tendency is a little more dangerous. I now have the financial means and independence to make rushed decisions based on my fixations. Thankfully, Jess is there to help me stop and think and not go too far…well, most of the time.

Since buying our home on 2.5 acres in the East Mountains of New Mexico, I’ve had the itch to somehow make the land ‘work’ for me. I want it to be productive. Helping with OtterlyBlooming, Jess’ foray into flower farming, gave me a flavor for what that can feel like. It’s amazing to see how a tiny seed, which may start off as a penny-scale investment, can turn into 10s of dollars of cut flowers [1]. That’s a 100,000% return! Of course, this line of thinking ignores the significant cost of labor, supplies, and irrigation, but the prospect of major returns—that would be near impossible to consistently achieve on Wall Street—is tantalizing to say the least.

Given that water is a scarce resource here in New Mexico, I started to think a lot about livestock. Cattle, goats, sheep, and bunnies. The last turned out to be an extended rabbit-hole (excuse the bad dad joke). Finally, a little exasperated, Jessica said, “if you’re going to do livestock, why not pigs?”

That’s all the encouragement I needed. Before she could recant her admission, I was off the phone with a local breeder in the Estancia Valley. I had committed to buy a 9-month old gilt Hereford/Duroc mix.

The day came for the gilt to be delivered. It was a Saturday, so the she would have a weekend to get accustomed to her new home while I was around. I was ecstatic. I had built a rudimentary pen from reclaimed wood pallets (inspiration from, which was nested within a 1/2 acre fenced-off pasture section of our backyard. The pig was much taller and larger than we had expected (probably 350 to 400 lbs), but she was calm and good natured. My kids decided to name her “Shebull,” probably for her cattle-esque size and appearance. The rest of Saturday and Sunday was uneventful and pleasant. I thought we were all set.

Come Monday morning. I get a desperate call from Jessica. Shebull had escaped from the pasture through a weak spot in the fence! She was loose! Shebull had explored much of the rest of the backyard, including Jessica’s flowers! Despite a number of work meetings I knew I needed to come back home ASAP if I was to preserve harmony in my home and the chance to try out pigs. Thankfully, I was able to get just the right construction and electric fencing materials to secure the enclosure and pen, and since then, (knock on wood), we haven’t had any issues.

References:

[1] I was also definitely inspired by this fantastic video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EA_itP6B4k0 from Birchfield Farming (https://www.youtube.com/@birchfieldfarming)