THE JUDICIOUS USE OF EQUINES
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explore and use scarce resources such as water and feed. Equines are resilient and can travel considerable distances without feed or water. Through landscape management, equines can control and manage sward growth (Figure 8 ), which otherwise poses fire hazards. In addition, they are involved in the biological control of weeds.
Manure production
FIGURE 6 A man is transporting bricks using a cart pulled by a horse in central southeast Ethiopia.
According to farmers, equines ' manure feeds the soil with nutrients better than Bovidae species manure. Horses and mules, which are large equids, produce significant amounts of dung and urine. Equines can eliminate a significant amount of dung because they graze for a longer period. Owing to their longer lifespans than cattle, equines are also able to produce more dung during their lifetimes. The dung of equines decomposes faster than that of Bovines. Equine manure is less expensive to transport and spread on crop fields owing to its low moisture content. Equines excrete their dung while trans- porting goods and people to weekly dedicated markets, which are typically found in towns. They spend a few hours waiting for owners engaging in market transactions. Urban vegetables and greenery can be produced using dung produced by visiting equines. Dung from equines can be directly used as a source of fuel for cooking food, or can sometimes be used to produce biogas.
FIGURE 7 A pack of donkeys awaiting to bring back home the flour after it is ground by a mill in the highland region of southeast Ethiopia.
can avoid competing by grazing on sparse land, and they can sub- sist on a sward that Bovidae have grazed. Equines readily con- sume pastures that Bovidae find less appealing. Equines can graze alongside Bovidae herds or flocks. Equines can be used to herd and flock Bovidae, which graze or browse vast tracts of land. By riding a horse that is naturally adapted to run, predators that would oth- erwise target grazing or browsing livestock can be scared off and evaded. Equines are drought-tolerant because they efficiently use water. For instance, the efficiency with which equines use water is demonstrated by the excretion of relatively dry pelleted dung. Equines can travel regularly for long periods, allowing them to
FIGURE 8 Donkeys grazing on open communal grazing lands in central southeast Ethiopia.
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