A bit of excitement in the bottom paddock

This is the sort of excitement that will appeal mainly to the permaculturists among us [that’s you Helen and Steve!]. Those who prefer their blog posts without mention of dung and photos of horse poo had best stop reading now.

So, there I was, happy in my newly populated horse paddock and thinking it about time I did some poo pick-up (most of it having been done by Forbearing Husband and Favorite Stepson during the time I was in Auckland). I donned my pick-up gloves, took up my trusty poo bucket and was about to dive (yes, of course metaphorically, you really have to ask?) into the first dung pile when. Lo! What is this?

You’ll be happy to see I’ve cropped this photo to give you only a minimal view of dung.

Earthworks

This my friends is the work of a dung beetle. A fact I’ve confirmed with the NZ Dung Beetle Organisation who suggest it is most likely this little friend, whose ancestors were deliberately introduced into the Whangarei area in 1956 and have successfully naturalised.

Well,  I rushed over to Very Forbearing Husband to share the excitement, and, good man that he is, he oohed and aahed and christened our beetle Doug (I had sighted Doug, but he was a bit shy and by the time I got back with the camera he was nowhere to be seen).

A full examination of the dung piles in the paddock revealed there are quite a few little Dougs out there at work. This makes me extremely happy since dung beetles improve the soil by creating tunnels full of little balls of animal droppings (well I did warn you sensitive types to stop reading) which simultaneously aerate and fertilise the pasture. Their activity also breaks parasite cycles by moving dung underground, neatly foiling the parasite larvae’s trick of climbing onto a blade of grass to be eaten by the host animal. Are you feeling the excitement yet!

This is not even to mention the claim by entomologist and dung beetle enthusiast Dr Shaun Forgie that dung beetles are “the most charismatic of all the beetles, and have such perfect personalities”. Doug didn’t hang around long enough for me to get to know him, but I’m looking forward to a bit of sparkling conversation down in the bottom paddock on my next visit.

Go Doug!

For non-horsy readers unfamiliar with poo pick-up this task involves moving horse droppings into compost piles to help reduce parasite activity and encourage horses to eat in all areas of their paddock. By nature ponies will (very sensibly) avoid eating grass in areas where they have left dung and by clearing it the diligent horse owner can make more grass available for them. Poo pick-up is a horse’s gift of fitness to her owner.