What Is It?

A question I have pondered for what seems like an eternity.....

Just 
what is it
about 
manure pile....

that attracts my dogs?


After all, I feed them well.
They get an egg each morning for breakfast.
And yet,
every chance they get,
they are at the manure pile,
searching for tasty treats!

Even Hickory, who was just too tired to get out of the gator,
was looking longingly at the pile.

On the subject of manure....
Pennsylvania has just mandated that all farms have a written
manure management statement.
The state will not be checking them, 
unless someone has a complaint about a particular farm.

Becky wrote our statement....
concisely,
succinctly,
simply....

"The horses poop, we clean it up."

Seriously, though,
we clean up all of our manure daily 
and keep that manure on a pile near the woods.
We use our tractor to turn it weekly.
It very quickly turns into wonderful, rich
compost that we then use to fertilize our fields and gardens.

PA is concerned about run-off into streams that feed
the Chesapeake Bay.
We do our part to manage our manure with
its effect on the environment being top priority.

Comments

Anke said…
I don't know what it is about horse manure and dogs. We don't have that problem here, but we did in Germany. Every time we took our dog for a walk in the woods we had to look out for those landmines - must be a delicacy for them...
Ginny said…
You are certainly doing your part, lets hope everyone does as well. Not sure about the dogs though.
Sonja said…
Beverly,

I love your blog, thanks for posting such great pictures.

You mentioned that you feed your dog farm-fresh eggs every morning. Lucky pups! Do you feed both the yolk and the whites? And raw? I used to do the same for my dog but my mother-in-law mentioned that dog weren't supposed to have the whites. I'd never heard that but scaled back his egg consumption to a raw yolk, once a week. He misses them greatly! I'd love to hear what other folks do with their dogs.
taylorgirl6 said…
I once read that dogs can smell the undigested food left in poop. In nature, not every animal digests everything in the food they eat. Scavengers are often geared to pick up the leftover nutrients and consume them more efficiently. Unfortunately, dogs are scavengers.

Even more gross, canines roll themselves in poop and carcasses to disguise their scent before tracking prey. Even though modern dogs don't know jack about hunting on their own, that odd remnant of old canine behavior has stuck with them.

Our neighbor has an Aussie Cattle dog who loves to roll in dryer sheets. Now that's a behavior I wish more dogs would learn!
Anonymous said…
go Becky!!!!
3Ms
Bee Haven Bev said…
Sonja,

We feed our dogs a whole egg...hard boiled each morning. Of course they love it. Actually our Bernese, Sadie is a little stout...she has a thyroid problem, so she only gets a half.

Now, on the subject of raw eggs....eating raw eggs actually depletes one of the B vitamins...so we don't eat them raw and neither do the dogs.

LOVE those eggs!
Dianne said…
Well, who knew you had to have a manure management plan! ;-) That's interesting. All we have are 10 hens at the present and it's not a problem. We clean their house and do the same thing you do on a MUCH smaller scale!