There are hundreds of them and they will toil day and night.
All going well, they will get it on and then there will be thousands of them.
They are good for the environment and are going to make the world a better place.
I don’t have to pay them wages.
I don’t have to worry about accommodation, meals, personal grievances or annual leave.
All I must do is make sure they have a plentiful supply of fresh cattle crap in front of them, which shouldn’t be too difficult with several hundred bulls out there.
They are dung beetles, of course, and I just liberated what looked like many hundreds of two different species out onto the ranch.
I first came across the little critters at a conference about seven years ago in Taumarunui. Dr Shaun Forgie gave an impassioned delivery about these insects and how they could help New Zealand agriculture improve its environmental game by disposing of the 100 million tonnes of dung dropped onto our pastures each year.
Incorporating the dung into the soil where it is used as food by the beetles and other soil life greatly reduces faecal runoff into waterways and benefits the soils by aeration, mixing of nutrients and helping to feed other soil life like earthworms.
The fellow was infatuated with dung beetles and his enthusiasm was infectious.
We all wanted some but at that stage Landcare had gone through the rigorous consultations then approvals and had got several species into the country and was doing trials such as making sure they would have no negative impacts.
Since then the company Dung Beetle Innovation has been formed and has been busy breeding and, over the last year or two, selling and distributing beetles around the country.
Last year our little valley set up the Upper Maharakeke Catchment Group to work together to improve the waterways that contribute to this spring fed stream that flows into the Tuki Tuki River south of Waipukurau.
The fellows on a neighbouring farm had recently heard Forgie speak and were fizzed up about the benefits the introduction of dung beetles to our valley could have on our waterways. They would certainly be one tool in the box.
They have worked diligently on getting several of us to commit to buying farm packages of these little fellows and today mine arrived.
When dropped off by the mailman they didn’t look too energetic in their plastic boxes. I took them directly out onto a central paddock on the farm that had bulls in it.
It must have warmed up or they sensed freedom and smelled fresh dung because they were now frantic to get on with business.
The trick is to drop them in large groups into a fresh cow pat and quickly cover them with a portion of the bucketload I’d scrapped up from around the paddock before they flew off.
However, if they didn’t fly off from the moment they were dropped out of the container, then, when they fell onto the motherload they knew what it was and weren’t going anywhere in a hurry.
These were my first two species as part of the package with another two to follow later. Apparently, a range of species is required to cover different seasons and day and night activity.
So, my job now is to make sure there are plenty of cattle in the vicinity as it is only the fresh stuff that attracts them by smell. Otherwise they might fly off into oblivion.
