Dung Beetles

arconis

arconis

Used Receptacle
Oct 30, 2008
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A fresh business idea for any of you or your family/friends.

I have a lot of time to think and I found an industry with like 1 person in it that is doing it and he sells them $1000 for 600 beetles starter colony.

Basically, benefits of dung beetles on farm land:
- Prevent disease spreading from fecal matter (foot-mouth disease)
- Aerate the soil
- Eliminate fertilizer costs ($$)
- Reduce amount of flies in area
- Reduce greenhouse gas methane (la-ti-da)

I had this idea but I'm not going anywhere with it, it wouldn't take too much capital/overhead money to breed a North American variety of the beetle, one does exist somewhere. So if anyone has some family out of work, feel free, banks would eat up a business plan based on this.
 


Yeah let me go ahead and buy 1,000,000 dung beetles. Thank you wickedfire for giving me business plans that will never fail.
 
How do dung beetle farms compare to vermiculture (worm farms)? Worms offer the same benefits you listed but are a lot cheaper than $1000 for 600 beetles. Cost just a few dollars for a kilo (about 4,000 worms) including shipping where I live.
 
Wow, smart comparison geomark.

I would image it would break down to the amount of work hours required per week? Vermiculture requires manual labor and machinery as opposed to the dung beetles doing all the work.

I have not done a study but I image the report would say a combination of both is the best solution, lol. Good input man, would make a nice graph for someone who is interested, hehe
 
I don't know much about dung beetle farming, just that dung beetles are handy for disposing of manure left by grazing animals and conditioning the soil in pastures. I guess it's a different market than worms and worm castings where vermiculture is useful for turning human generated garbage into fertilizer for gardens.
 
Yup, they are focusing on turning human waste into natural gas at the big dumpsites. Put pipes throughout the garbage to keep it moist and a big tarp over it to capture all the gas.

Yah, worm tea is nice, I use it myself in my garden. Both are viable businesses though.
 
Just did a little Googling to see if dung beetles are useful for dog poop cleanup. Seems like they are somewhat - some parks in Australia have deployed them for that purpose, although they say the beetles don't stick around very long.

Where I live in Thailand we have a variety called the Elephant Dung Beetle, pretty awesome looking bug, check it out InsectaCulture ~ Heliocopris dominus Photos. They are clumsy flyers that come buzzing around sometimes and crash into things. Never seem them at work.
 
Whew, that's one heckuva beetle. Sticking around would definitely be important, not very hard to study though, either they do or they don't in a 6 month timeline, actually they are supposed to increase in numbers. That's something someone else can easily do by striking up a deal with a local farmer I'm sure for a small royalty or free even.
 
Some Thai people in the countryside eat those things. Plus they sell them as souvenirs for US$10 in Bangkok and they're even on eBay.

You've given me some food for thought. Might consider adding these guys to the menagerie on my little farm. Easy enough to get started since they arrive on their own pretty often and there are some locals farming them already.
 
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