By April MacIntyre Nov 7, 2009, 17:51 GMT
Discovery's pin-up boy and "Dirty Jobs" host Mike Rowe gets down with glass makers and rolls around in cow manure with dung beetle experts this coming week.
Rowe heads Williamstown, West Virginia to try his hand at making glass art. At the Fenton Art Glass Company, Mike Rowe meets Tim - the man with the easiest job ever.
In this episode, Mike also goes to Jonesboro, Arkansas to perform dung beetle research. He is enlisted in the making of "Poogurt" - fresh pig poo mushed up for Dung beetle culling.
Did you know that Dung beetles can dispose of 1 ton of manure/year over 2.5 acres resulting in improved soil fertility, a reduction in pollution and a return of needed moisture to the soil bed?
The Dung beetle promotes earthworm production and is even a potential new source of drugs.
Rowe gets up close to the ecosystem where one mammal's poo is another species' Hometown Buffet.
Dung beetles’ benefits to livestock and the pasture environment is major: Cow and pig manure is the breeding ground and incubator for horn and face flies, two economically important pests of cattle.
A single manure pat can generate 60-80 horn fly adults if protected from insect predators and competitors such as dung beetles.
As dung beetles feed, they compete with the fly larvae for food and physically damage the flies’ eggs. The tunneling behavior of dung beetles increases the soil’s capacity to absorb and hold water, and their dung-handling activities enhance soil nutrient cycling.
Good times for Mike; clips courtesy of Discovery:
Witness Mike Rowe choke as he ladles glass in an attempt to create a glass bowl. In this episode, Mike goes to Jonesboro, Arkansas to perform dung beetle research. Then he heads to Williamstown, West Virginia to try his hand at making glass art.
In Arkansas, Mike Rowe joins researchers as they document how many and what kinds of dung beetles inhabit area cow pastures. In this episode, Mike goes to Jonesboro, Arkansas to perform dung beetle research. Then he heads to Williamstown, West Virginia to try his hand at making glass art.
Join Mike Rowe as he learns why 9 out of 10 dung beetles prefer fresh pig poop out of the dung beetles that eat pig poop.
In this episode, Mike goes to Jonesboro, Arkansas to perform dung beetle research. Then he heads to Williamstown, West Virginia to try his hand at making glass art.
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