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Dealing with cow manure is a constant battle for farmers. Some farmers is Tasmania’s north-west have tapped into a secret weapon, the humble dung beetle. These beetles from South Australia help dispose of livestock waste while improving the soil for farming.

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00:02This is no ordinary delivery.
00:05Inside this parcel are thousands of boobus bison dung beetles.
00:10When you turn up with let's say ten of these on a Monday morning full of beetles,
00:16you can literally hear them moving around in the packaging.
00:19You get to know your local postage staff pretty well.
00:23The beetles have travelled from a beef farm in South Australia.
00:28Mr O'Malley will deliver them to farms in North West Tasmania,
00:32including Matthew Gunningham's property at Montsumana.
00:36This type of dung beetle is active during winter,
00:40unlike locally common species.
00:42We get a lot of activity through the latter part of the spring
00:46and all the way through the summer and early autumn,
00:48so this was a gap that could be filled by this new, you know, different species.
00:52The beetles move animal dung into underground burrows to feed their young.
00:57This breaks down the dung and improves soil by aerating it and adding nutrients.
01:03As an organic farm we've got very limited inputs that we can use,
01:07and so we are always looking to, I suppose, harness nature as much as possible.
01:13These dung beetles here have a very big and important job ahead of them.
01:18Over winter they will consume about 250 times their body weight in cow dung every day.
01:25Next summer, Mr O'Malley will trap and collect blue bomber dung beetles to send to South Australia.
01:32We'll be replaced in February, March next year when we'll send back the species that we have an abundance of
01:40here.
01:40An exchange that's delivering for farmers in two states.
01:44gap ofICE
01:44Haha
01:49has a coins
01:51Will the other
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