DungBeetle_NeverEndingCycle_Davis_Walt_BenningtonOK_19October2000_Reel2116.wav

Walt Davis [00:00:02] I'm talking about the decay cycle as being one of the natural processes that we have to work with in nature if we're going to be sustainable.

Walt Davis [00:00:16] The dung beetle that had buried part of this manure pile and brought the dirt up through it. Incidentally, should there be enough farmers and ranchers in your audience to say that old boy's a very poor manager simply because this manure is very fibrous. And they're absolutely correct. I was holding cattle on this particular area to utilize some old grass simply because we had to, we didn't have a choice with the drought, with the drought, but can you see the life in that manure?

Walt Davis [00:00:48] You see the little grub worms working it? See 'em? Yep? Are you getting them them right there, the little worms? This is a part of the normal natural decay cycle. It is what has to happen. Everything from the little fly larva right here. To this little worm over here, whatever he is, the dung beetle; later on the earthworm will come up under it. The pill bugs will begin to utilize it. They will convert this waste product back in to

Walt Davis [00:01:28] nutrients, nutrients for soil organisms and later on nutrients for higher plants, which will in turn be converted into nutrients for animals.

Walt Davis [00:01:39] Life. Death. Decay.

Walt Davis [00:01:43] It's a never ending cycle. And where you interrupt that cycle with something like the chemicals that sterilize this dung pat in order to keep horn flies from hatching in it, then we kill all of the life forms in that dung pat. We interrupt that cycle, therefore, we waste these nutrients that are tied up in this manure. Instead of going back into the soil immediately to become food for microorganisms. Later, food for higher plants. Later, food for animals. It's a waste product. This is one of the things that we've lost touch with in modern agriculture.

Walt Davis [00:02:26] We have to work within nature's framework. We can push on nature occasionally. We can violate the rules occasionally, but sooner or later it catches up with us.