Dung Beetles

[TexasJerseyMilker]

Today between rains Jarad and I unloaded, stacked and tarped a ton of alfaIfa hay. The bales weigh as much as I do and more than Jarad weighs. It is fun working with a cowboy. Working together we were like 2 dung beetles rolling balls of manure.



I miss the Dung beetles of Texas. In 2024 it rained 5 and 3/4 feet of rain here. Dung beetles would drown.

 

[wbvs58]

We have had dung beetles show up here last summer and again this summer. I think the local land service from over the border which runs along my eastern boundary released some and they have found there way here. They are doing a great job, this morning I walked amongst my cows and did not see any flies on them nor did any flies land on me, I attribute that to the dung beetles dealing with the dung piles.. They love the horse manure.

Ken

 

[ClinchValley86]

Im very happy to report i had dung beetles galore this year. Even saw one the size of a quarter to a half dollar. It was HUGE. Manure pats were being worked up in short order.

 

[TexasJerseyMilker]

I liked to see them fighting over poop balls.

 

[TexasJerseyMilker]

 

[RDFF]

Keep in mind that you probably have them, even if you're not aware of them... just maybe not the great big black ones. Do you have holes poked in the crust on your cowpies? Dig open that pie, and you'll likely see lots of little black or green or iridescent colored beetles... those all are dung beetles, just different species of them. They don't all "roll balls of manure" across the ground, some just work up and down from the soil into the cowpie, and back down into the ground, and if you don't dig open that cowpie, you'd never see them. It's all the biological functioning of ALL of the soil creatures working like this that creates the infiltration capabilities and aggregation of the soil, and its fertility.

 

[Brute 23]

I don't see a lot around my house. There are tons down south. If you take a poop when you stand up there will be 3-4 of the big ones headed for it. It's amazing. You rarely see big piles unless they are fresh. It use to be like that around the house when I was a kid. I asked a guy about it one time and blamed over use of dewormers.

 

[Silver]

Dung beetles appear to be alive and well up here.

 

[Travlr]

Dung beetles appear to be alive and well up here.

Huh... I haven't seen any since I was a kid in Tennessee. None in Arkansas, South Dakota, or the western states. Do they require more moisture? Humidity? Why weren't there any in Arkansas?

 

[Named'em Tamed'em]

Dung beetle, I thought of Chuckie's avatar

 

[WAnabee]

I've never seen any in western Washington but I've read about them. They sound very beneficial and it sounds like you can import them, but i think they would have to be able to swim pretty well where i live.

 

[ClinchValley86]

Huh... I haven't seen any since I was a kid in Tennessee. None in Arkansas, South Dakota, or the western states. Do they require more moisture? Humidity? Why weren't there any in Arkansas?

where were ya in TN? Grew up for a spell in TN?

 

[Ouachita]

Huh... I haven't seen any since I was a kid in Tennessee. None in Arkansas, South Dakota, or the western states. Do they require more moisture? Humidity? Why weren't there any in Arkansas?

Probably because the chiggars and ticks on your place carried them off

 

[Hippie Rancher]

Keep in mind that you probably have them, even if you're not aware of them... just maybe not the great big black ones. Do you have holes poked in the crust on your cowpies? Dig open that pie, and you'll likely see lots of little black or green or iridescent colored beetles... those all are dung beetles, just different species of them. They don't all "roll balls of manure" across the ground, some just work up and down from the soil into the cowpie, and back down into the ground, and if you don't dig open that cowpie, you'd never see them. It's all the biological functioning of ALL of the soil creatures working like this that creates the infiltration capabilities and aggregation of the soil, and its fertility.

I remember a while back some feed through larvaecide product ad showed an image of a dry dung pile and labeled it "Tombstone" implying for flies. All I could think of was yeah, dung beetles.

 

[RDFF]

I remember a while back some feed through larvaecide product ad showed an image of a dry dung pile and labeled it "Tombstone" implying for flies. All I could think of was yeah, dung beetles.

One of the points that I make when I do a presentation at grazing/soil health meetings... My custom grazed herd owner insists on using larvicide in the mineral. I hate it... There's more flies on his cattle than on my herd without it. And I see WAY less "activity" from dung beetles, etc., on those cowpies than I do on my own herd (two different farms).

 

[greybeard]

Dung beetles appear to be alive and well up here.

We gonna put a 25% tariff on any we see coming south......

 

[Silver]

We gonna put a 25% tariff on any we see coming south......

I'm sure our new border security measures will even keep the dung beetles from ever successfully crossing the border.

 

[farmerjan]

Dung beetle, I thought of Chuckie's avatar

miss @Chuckie 's posts. She was back on here for a little bit but nothing for 6 months or so....

 

[Silver]

miss @Chuckie 's posts. She was back on here for a little bit but nothing for 6 months or so....

Last I saw her she was on that knockoff CT site sharing some pretty incredible conspiracies.

 

[farmerjan]

Last I saw her she was on that knockoff CT site sharing some pretty incredible conspiracies.

The last she has been on there is Aug 2024... so a month after being on here. She was contemplating a knee replacement... and I do not have her phone number in my new phone...many of my contacts did not "transfer" to the new phone and they "reset my old phone to factory setting before it finished and lost a bunch of my stuff. If anyone has her number, please PM me and I will try to call her.