Guest guest Posted December 11, 2007 Report Share Posted December 11, 2007 You mean, dung beetles actually live in MN??? what do they look like? Are theyas large as the african kind? -- *~*~* Jo @ *~*~* http://laudodeumfarmholisticgoatcare.blogspot.com/ Complimentary and Alternative Goat Care. Exploring the world of alternatives in an effort to promote sustainable and humane Farm and Family Friendly options for raising goats. We raise happy and healthy Kinder and Nigerian Dwarf goats for small farms, homesteaders and families with young children. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 11, 2007 Report Share Posted December 11, 2007 Dung beetles have been found on every part of the earth except the anarctic. They might be there too. You can't have a healthy livestock operation without them. The book is a SMALL MIRACLE and I highly recommend it. Like all of Chuck Walters books, there is far more in it than the title indicates. A great little surprise Christmas present for enlightened friends. Most beetles in MN are the tunneling kind, just slightly larger than a lady beetle. they are usually dark brown to black on the front shell and maroonish-orange on the back 2/3s. You can find them in fresh wet manure. When I was a kid, the entire Midwest was loaded with the " tumble bugs " that roll manure into perfectly round balls with their hind feet. We've managed to kill most of them off with pesticides, herbicides and livestock wormers. What a shame. Now we have stable flies, horn flies, house flies and face flies as a result. You can order the book from AcresUSA, the LARGEST Eco-Ag bookstore in the world. www.acresusa.com. Will Winter Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 11, 2007 Report Share Posted December 11, 2007 Will, I try to use very little, if any DE so that the larve of the good insects like dung beetles are not killed off. I do admit the chickens eat a lot, but they don't get to all the manure! On another note of fies-my new neighbor is commercial and he decided to vamp up his cattle this winter. He must have close to 200 due north of me on about 100 acres including row crops. I am worried about a fly infestation this summer, any suggestions? Maybe tons of pastured chickens on the North end of my farm?? (and people ask me why I don't sell off my woods that almost surrounds my pastures - buffers! - but just a treeline on the north) Jan > > When I was a kid, the entire Midwest was loaded with the " tumble bugs " that roll manure into > perfectly round balls with their hind feet. We've managed to kill most of them off with > pesticides, herbicides and livestock wormers. What a shame. Now we have stable flies, horn > flies, house flies and face flies as a result. > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 11, 2007 Report Share Posted December 11, 2007 Funny, we used to play with them as kids (easily entertained?) and took them for granted as part of the ecosystem that we did not understand or appreciate at the time...that was thirty years ago. We also enjoyed, well, were TERRIFIED by, the 'barn spiders' that grew to the size of ping-pomg balls in the entrances to the cow-barns...I agree with Will: those critters seem to have largely succumbed to the seemingly insatiable desire to rid our immediate presence of 'pests.' How sad. Now we are left with the real pests. In retrospect, a cow/horse/husbandry barn with BIG spiders was a very polite place to be if you measured it by the presence (or lack thereof) of flies and other biting insects. I am much more disturbed by the declination of pollinators. We had such great colonies of honeybees on our farm growing up...even with supers they tended to swarm in the fall and completely overtake shrubs and other vegetation. So focused on the swarm were they that you could walk right up to a gang of a thousand and they would largely ignore you...not anymore. No swarms and very anemic producers now. THAT is a big problem that most advocates of natural pollination will attest to. *GASP* couldn't be the pesticides, could it? More corn, less bugs. GREAT deal. Alan Re: New book, funny too Dung beetles have been found on every part of the earth except the anarctic. They might be there too. You can't have a healthy livestock operation without them. The book is a SMALL MIRACLE and I highly recommend it. Like all of Chuck Walters books, there is far more in it than the title indicates. A great little surprise Christmas present for enlightened friends. Most beetles in MN are the tunneling kind, just slightly larger than a lady beetle. they are usually dark brown to black on the front shell and maroonish-orange on the back 2/3s. You can find them in fresh wet manure. When I was a kid, the entire Midwest was loaded with the " tumble bugs " that roll manure into perfectly round balls with their hind feet. We've managed to kill most of them off with pesticides, herbicides and livestock wormers. What a shame. Now we have stable flies, horn flies, house flies and face flies as a result. You can order the book from AcresUSA, the LARGEST Eco-Ag bookstore in the world. www.acresusa.com. Will Winter Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 12, 2007 Report Share Posted December 12, 2007 Oddly, and as you will read in the Dung Beetle book, DE doesn't seem to hurt the beetles or any other beneficial bug that we know of. The efficacy of DE as a wormer is hot and cold, some love it, some hate it. I'm hesitant to use it because of the dangers of inhaling it (asbesteosis). If you use DE, try giving it just in the 7 days prior to a full moon, when the parasites are most actively reproducing. I talked to a Texas rancher at Acres who sez he keeps all of his horses 100% worm-free using nothing but DE and good nutrition. And he lives in one of the wormiest areas of the country. He gives them kelp and seasalt free- choice. Flies from a neighboring farm SHOULD be a pollution factor that could be reported. Ha ha. You would have to PROVE that they were your neighbor's flies. That might be difficult. " Downstream " pollution from CAFOs or factory farms is a sad consequence of government coddling of factory farming. Truly though, if you keep your manure recycled quickly with chickens, beetles and even raking, you won't be seeing much of a problem. Flies are NOT attracted to healthy animals. In fact I do fly count approximations on each animal in a herd to look for the culls. Agri-Dynamics sells ECTOPHYTE a topical botanical non-toxic insect repellant for flies, lice, ticks, mites and other external parasites. Will Winter Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 12, 2007 Report Share Posted December 12, 2007 > When I lived in Anoka county, I was the only person I ever met that had a > Saint Bernard kennel and no flies. Plenty of dung beetles, no flies. Part of > it was cedar trees growing around and in the kennel runs. Not the prettiest > tree, but flies hate that scent. People use cedar trunks to keep the bugs > out. > > We have deer flies here that take a hunk of flesh out. Last summer, I started > making a border around the yard with baby cedar trees. I also bought cedar > chips to put around the kennel and that works for a small area, but the rain > washes the scent away. Trees are better. You might plant cedar in your tree > line to the north. > > Kathy > > > > > > On another note of fies-my new neighbor is commercial and he decided > to vamp up his cattle this winter. He must have close to 200 due > north of me on about 100 acres including row crops. I am worried > about a fly infestation this summer, any suggestions? Maybe tons of > pastured chickens on the North end of my farm?? (and people ask me > why I don't sell off my woods that almost surrounds my pastures - > buffers! - but just a treeline on the north) > > Jan > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 12, 2007 Report Share Posted December 12, 2007 We have used DE for many years. We kept our cattle free of grubs, pinkeye, ringworm and almost all the flies. We kept it out free choice and usually within hours the newborn calves would be up to their noses eating it. The chickens we have now are free of the lice that get under the scales of their legs. We have used only the Diafil brand. I do not use it much in the garden. I have been following Walters and Arden s advice on balancing the minerals in the soil because bugs don't eat healthy plants [however, bigger critters like woodchucks and deer do]. My condolences about possibility of feedlot flies. If your neighbor is grazing them no problem, if they are in the barn all day and he has a manure pit, flies and other issues could be a real issue. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 12, 2007 Report Share Posted December 12, 2007 I discovered the monster spiders in my barn for the first time this summer and they certainly scared me. I didn't mind them as much in the far corners, but hated them near the milking stand! I spent a certain amount of time watching spiders and making sure they didn't come near me while I was milking. I don't think I have any dung beetles, I tried to find some last summer. I love to get some next spring if anyone would have any to spare. Lynn > Funny, we used to play with them as kids (easily entertained?) and took them for granted as part of the ecosystem that we did not understand or appreciate at the time...that was thirty years ago. We also enjoyed, well, were TERRIFIED by, the 'barn spiders' that grew to the size of ping-pomg balls in the entrances to the cow-barns...I agree with Will: those critters seem to have largely succumbed to the seemingly insatiable desire to rid our immediate presence of 'pests.' > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You are posting as a guest. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.