Dung beetles dumped on...........
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Did you know, that what you thought I said, was not what I meant

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Nah! That was mostly done by Pommy immigrants a while back [}KiplingAngel;453225 wrote: Just pretend they are varoa mite, and bloody well release them - then see what happens... Isn't that the Kiwi way??


They brought us rabbits, weasels, gorse, chicken pox, measles, whooping cough, scarlet fever, sparrows, rats, cockroaches, ......the list goes on!

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Cockroaches/rats/mice are different as they hang around human settlement, dung beetles aren't known for their propensity to seek out people and their food...
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Stikkibeek;453228 wrote: Nah! That was mostly done by Pommy immigrants a while back [}
]
They brought us rabbits, weasels, gorse, chicken pox, measles, whooping cough, scarlet fever, sparrows, rats, cockroaches, ......the list goes on!
And they were all brought in a long long time ago before there were any biosecurity controls/testing before introduction too...and varroa thought to have been through stuff smuggled in rather than a planned intro.
Protocols/testing now (over a long period of time, ie years) to ensure no negative impacts of introductions of beneficial insects is very stringent now.
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But they are moving around farms in the slightly more subtropical conditions not so many km north of here and will no doubt continue to spread to where conditions suit them ie northwards.
I have not heard of any health side effects of the farmers there who have them, in fact they are rather pleased, cuts down heaps on flies as the manure disappears
You do wonder why everyone is so against them yet we are prepared to introduce vegetables and fresh products that we know could well destroy our home grown industries, and indeed are as we have seen with psa etc
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muri;453275 wrote: You do wonder why everyone is so against them yet we are prepared to introduce vegetables and fresh products that we know could well destroy our home grown industries, and indeed are as we have seen with psa etc
I don't think it is a case of everyone being against them...this article to me reads as a bit of a media beat up. Not sure why Auckland Uni so involved in this, as Landcare is the organisation with the expertise in biocontrol intros etc...
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LongRidge;453280 wrote: I went through Massey at the same time as Grant Guilford, and assure you that he is a very bright lad.
No-one's casting nasturtiums on the bona fides of those involved, just an interesting angle to take to oppose the intro of this agent - to me, anyway!
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As an Aussie who kept several horses on a rural property in New South Wales I really appreciated the hard work done by my manure munching beetles.
When I arrived in NZ I was very disappointed to discover that the only critters that swarmed around manure were blowflies. My labrador does enjoy munching on alpaca poo but she's never going to be as effective as the dung beetles.
Living on a 7 acre property near Oamaru I currently have 5 wonderful Standardbred horses, 8 alpacas, 6 former battery hens, 1 labrador and 8 cats. I eat only plant based food and love trying new plant based recipes. Retired from the paid workforce in December 2019 and have never been busier!!
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