I ordered dung beetles the other day. I did it because there aren’t any in my region, and there should be. Cow patties should be a feast for the little bugs, who would quickly incorporate the manure into the earth. I share a fence with a cattle operation, and if there would be dung beetles anywhere, it would be here. There should have been a scarab stampede over to my place as soon as there was cow feces. But they aren’t. Why not?
I looked it up and found that ivermectin (given for parasites), pesticides, herbicides, and chemical fertilizers are the culprits. All sorts of agricultural aids to help the soil kill the critters that build the soil. Have you ever walked in a cornfield and seen how dead it is, other than the corn? Something is wrong.
Think not of cows as an isolated thing. You don’t feed separate units, like you might supply material to a machine in a factory. Rather, the cattle, soil, plants, insects, fungus, worms, sun, water, and air form one whole system, one big entropy reducer, at least as long as the sun keeps shining. If you take anything away, the whole system dies.
In ancient times, bison roamed the plains. We slaughtered them to get rid of the plains Indians. Mission accomplished! But the soil is getting worse, and only still produces food because we pour petroleum products and chemical fertilizers into it.
What do? Well, I bought some cattle and am going to try to fix my little area of the world through managed grazing. Maybe you could do the same? If not, you could find regenerative farms near you and support them. Rethink your suburban lawn. Read Alan Savory or Johann Zeitsman. Watch Greg Judy’s youtube videos. This is the true environmentalism. If it fails, we will all be eating bugs grown in a desert.