Buffalo chip

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Fresh cow dung

Cow dung being dried for fuel in India.

Water buffalo dung drying on the wall of a house, Yuanyang County, Yunnan

Cow dung is the waste of bovine animal species. These species include domestic cattle ("cows"), bison ("buffalo"), yak and water buffalo. Cow dung is the undigested residue of herbivorous matter which has passed through the animal's gut. The resultant faecal matter is rich in minerals. Colour ranges from greenish to blackish, often darkening in colour soon after exposure to air.

[edit] Uses

In many parts of the developing world, cow dung is used as a fertilizer and fuel. Caked and dried cow dung is used as a fuel to cook food in many parts of Asia and Africa.

In recent times, the dung is collected and used to produce biogas to generate electricity and heat. The gas is a rich source of methane and is used in rural areas of India and elsewhere to provide a renewable and stable source of electricity.

Cow dung is also used to line the floor and walls of buildings owing to its insect repellent properties. In cold places, cow dung is used to line the walls of rustic houses as a cheap thermal insulator.

It was also used extensively on Indian Railways to seal smokeboxes on steam locomotives.^{[citation needed]}

Cow dung is also an optional ingredient in the manufacture of adobe mud brick housing depending on the availability of materials at hand.^[1]

[edit] Variants

A buffalo chip, also called a meadow muffin, is the name for a large, flat, dried piece of dung deposited by the American Bison from the large amount of grass that it eats. Well dried buffalo chips were among the few things that could be collected and burned on the prairie, and so were used by the Plains Indians, settlers and pioneers, and homesteaders, as a source of heat for cooking and warmth.

Bison dung is sometimes referred to by the name nik-nik. This word is a borrowing from the Sioux language (which probably originally borrowed it from a northern source). In modern Sioux, nik-nik can refer to the feces of any bovine, including domestic cattle. It has also come to be used, especially in Lakota, to refer to lies or broken promises (especially by the U.S. government). It probably attained this sense by association with the English bull shit.

[edit] See also

• Manure
• Biofuel
• Feces
• Bullshit
• Guano

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• 101 uses of CowDung
• National Park Service - about bison, including information on chips.