Jill Buckfield is on to something big in terms of environmental benefit for horse owners.
The solution itself comes at a dollar each, and she’s just released 1000 of them on her Yass property.
Across 20 acres, Jill’s six horses make their fair share of mess, but this Yass local may have just cracked the code for an environmentally beneficial clean-up solution.
“I purchased 1000 winter active dung beetles… and released them on my property,” says Jill.
“They are terrific in breaking down the horse manure.”
For NSW farmers, the introduction of dung beetles in paddocks to break down matter such as manure isn’t a new or novel concept, but Jill says this is the first time something like this has been done in winter in Yass.
“I used to live in Murrumbateman, but then moved to Yass four years ago, and I had dung beetles on my property in Murrumbateman,” she says.
“I had them here in Yass too, but only over summer.”
Several of Jill’s horses have laminitis, and are unable to access a full pasture where manure would normally be given the room to break down.
Within Jill’s paddock, she has implemented a track system for the horses, which has caused the manure to pile up. Removing it can be a labour intensive process.
“Over summer, I thought ‘it’s great’ because the dung beetles just do their thing and bury it all, they’re fantastic,” she says.
“But over winter, my workload increased [and I realised] there was a better way of doing it but getting some dung beetles over winter.”
Dung beetles dig the manure into the ground, which not only clears the top soil but aerates the soil, allowing for greater drainage.
Once the dung beetles have settled into their new home, they will begin breeding, increasing the chances of turning the soil over. This process can take several years for the beetles to completely set themselves up.
“I’m hoping that it will be good for my pastures, and it’ll be less work for me in collecting manure,” says Jill.
Jill’s introduction to the benefits of the beetles began in Murrumbateman, where the previous house owners had purchased them.
“I didn’t really think a lot about it. I just thought, this is kind of handy, because they do such great work,” she says.
Upon moving to Yass, Jill says she began to activity think about how she can help the land and her horses.
“Every time you take manure away, you’re really just stripping your land of the benefits of the manure,” she says.
“So, it’s kind of a win win to some extent.”
Australia is home to several native dung beetles, but many of them do not like horse manure, so it has taken some experimentation from Jill’s dung beetle handler, John Feeney, to find the perfect ones for the job.
Bucas Bison, the horse manure-obsessed dung beetle species that Jill is currently hosting go dormant over the summer period, which is when her summer ones will pick up the work.
The only risk, she says, is watching what types of wormers farmers are using on their horses.
“If [the dung beetles] are active and you use the wrong horse wormer, then it will kill your dung beetles, because they’ll get into the manure,” she says.
“So, you’ve got to use the right wormer at the right time.
“Hopefully if you keep on having these dung beetles doing their thing, then you shouldn’t have to worm as often because the manure will have been dug in the ground anyhow, so then you should need less wormers as well.”
Before Jill invested in her summer dung beetles, she says she looked into any potential negatives of introducing the species on her farm.
Finding none, she says she couldn’t recommend them more.
“I think anyone who’s got horses… you can keep the manure in a way that it’s dug back into the ground, then you’ve got the benefits of the nutrients in the manure, plus it’s aerating your soil, so it’ll absorb water better and run off as quickly,” she says.
“It is quite extraordinary, and I don’t think horse people really think enough about it.
“This, hopefully, will help, and then, because they’ll breed, and they fly in the evenings… then they’ll fly to my neighbour’s properties, [where] they will eventually just spread themselves.”
With Jill’s dung beetles expected to expand their reach to her neighbours, she says she expects to see long term benefits not only in her own plot, but those around her.
By breaking down the manure, Jill says she has already seen grass return to paddocks that would normally have dead patches from the piles of manure on the ground.
“You don’t get as many flies either, because the manure is being broken down, so it reduces your fly burden,” Jill says, listing another benefit.
“From an environmental point of view, less flies is important [and it] benefits the soil by aerating it.”
Jill lived on her Murrumbateman property for approximately 30 years and says she saw no downside, outside of the dung beetles on her property going into hibernation during the cooler months.
At the time, her only downside was the realisation that she had piles of manure accumulating during the beetles’ off season.
As for flying, she saws they are only visible in the air for short periods at dusk, which is when she has noticed them flying between manure piles.
Jill purchased her beetles for one dollar each, which she says can be an expensive cost at first, before farmers begin noticing the benefit.
“It’s a lot when you first buy them, but in terms of my labour in picking up manure in the paddock, that’s worth a lot, and we all tend to not factor that in as horse people,” she says.
“There’s a huge cost in time, so why should we do it?”
Jill’s beetles are capable of burying into highly compacted soils, which enables grass and other root plant systems to penetrate further into zones which otherwise would not be accessible. These zones are thereby locking in more carbon.
Elizabeth Kovacs
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