Posted on 11/21/2005 2:29:46 PM PST by NormsRevenge
SAN RAFAEL, Calif. (AP) - Researchers here are looking to horse manure to study the spread of invasive weeds.
Dominican University has received a $100,000 National Park Service grant to study how to slow the spread of nonnative plants and weeds in state parks, school officials said. Horse manure might be part of the problem, according to scientists.
Researchers began collecting horse manure samples from trails and pastures this summer. They want to test an assumption that seeds can pass through horses, leading to sprouts of invasive weeds.
"We need to know through scientific research if horses do or do not spread weeds and if they do, what is the impact on the parks," said Sibdas Ghosh, chair of Dominican's Department of Natural Sciences and Mathematics.
Colorado, Nevada and Montana require horse owners to give their animals feed that has been certified as weed free.
What a load!
It's the Lone Ranger's fault!
Tonto (the Native American) warned him!
Yet another bunch of pointy heads who think they should be in charge of nature. Seeds getting spread through animal manure IS nature. They should just deal with the fact.
[i]"Colorado, Nevada and Montana require horse owners to give their animals feed that has been certified as weed free."[/i]
We use cleaned oats and alfalfa cubes. That and whatever grass is growing in the area.
Dont worry, we dont need money for important things, say, cancer research or something, so lets investigate horse $hit instead. great.
Birds will eat seed from horse turds. Send me my 100K now.
I'll do it for $90K. The answer is yes. In fact, I've already finished my research:
My dog likes tomatoes. I've got them coming up in my lawn.
I've got all kinds of strange plants coming up along my fence. Birds did it.
And, if I had horses running around, there would be all kinds of other stuff coming up.
There. End of my scientific report.
This Spring, we had nasty weeds in and around that lantern that were foreign to our yard.
My husband swears they came from the Straw bale. Who knows?
sw
The main weed I'm worried about is Goatheads! It's the spawn of Satan! Keep yer horses outta my garden! :)
Progressives are inordinately preoccupied with the southbound end of northbound farm animals, aren't they? Farts, cow patties, horse puckey ... what's next, urine as "art?" Oops, too late.
Sorry folks there is no question at all this happens. I put moo doo in gardens and I get weeds out of it. The question is why do we need to spend money to study this when anybody should know it happens.
By the way, if the government wants something to do, tell them to check a fence line and see if birds are sitting on it. Then they should check back to see if something grew where the bird took a dump. Just don't pay them to do so.
We spend $100K to determine this? I and any farmer who plowed with mules or horses could have answered that question for free! Yes, they do. But they have to eat the seeds from whatever they're fed to do it.
Can't have common citizens on horse back enjoying their forests.
"Then they should check back to see if something grew where the bird took a dump. Just don't pay them to do so."
Anybody raised anywhere near a farm knows where all those cedars and pokeweed lining the fences comes from. I guess effete urbanites have to "rediscover" common knowledge from time to time, and charge big bucks to do it.
I know this. My dad knew it, my grandfather knew it, and probably every every single person who ever shoveled it knows it. But pointy head liberal univeristy envirowacko twerps don't know s*** about anything.
We all know how this study is going to turn out.
Do they make pooper-scoopers for horses?
One hundred thousand dollars?
THAT is a pile of horse manure.
If horses weren't vegetarians, this would not be happening. We need to train them to eat hamburgers (NO sesame seed buns), fries, and chocolate shakes so they can dump seedless crap.
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