Dung beetles

Anyone know if Dung beetles are available for distribution yet?

Officially not yet.
The Dung beetle programme hoped to be releasing I think at the end of this year but I think there have been a few delays so far.
I bought the Mexican Beetles last summer but because we had such a poor summer, they were much delayed in their level of activity and breeding. The Mexican are not the best as they are winter dormant and like the heat. As well as that they dont like frosts.
So none of the hardier varieties have been released, as of yet and are probably a couple of years off, at least.
If you are going to go the dung beetle way, you cant be doing the usual drenching animals on site as the drenches affect the dung beetle in the first 48 hours

The Dung Beetle project has just announced that the projected release of dung beetles they had hoped for this summer will now be at least 18months away at the earliest.
there was a discussion on national radio, nine to noon today about the project

Here - great interview

www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/ni...s-to-nz-farmland.asx

Interesting that drench dependency is greatly reduced. I'd love to get some going on our block that's for sure. I know they mentioned both cattle and horse dung. What of chooky poo. Do they utilize that too?

Dung beetles tend to be relatively host specific and i would imagine those that do the dung of four legged creatures would not be doing the dung of birds.
Its a pity that there is opposition in NZ to the dung beetles in the farming community.
Antartica and NZ are the two places without such critters
Not only will it reduce the need for drenching, in fact you need to go organic to have them as the drenches kill off the beetles, but they would improve the fertility of the soil manifold as they burrow into the ground providing aeration as well as taking the dung into the soil.
They also reduce the fly population
On the Shelley Beach farm, you can walk around and see that there is no dung, and fresh piles are just being turned into a small crumbly pile. So it also means you can graze an area longer as it is not fouled with dung and you dont get all those uneven sward patches where the dung piles are

I'm an Aussie and I loved the way the dung beetles devoured the horse manure in my paddocks. I did do a weekly pick of manure but I always left some food for the dung beetles.
I really wish NZ would get over its dung beetle phobia sooner than rather later so that these miracle workers could do their part in improving the soil here. In the meantime, I have to spend an hour or so every day cleaning up after my alpacas.