Beetle mania

Shaun Forgie breeds unusual livestock whose business is to eat the business of herbivorous mammals. He and his business partner Andrew Barber raise dung beetles at one of the world’s largest mass insect-rearing facilities, on a 3.2-acre block in Whenuapai.

Graduating from Auckland University with a BSc, Forgie began his science career as a technician with the Plant Protection group at DSIR, then at AgResearch, where he worked on the biological control of European and German wasps, and on sheep flystrike flies.

For reasons he cannot now recall, the lab had a fresh cow pat. To his surprise a native Australian dung beetle (long established in New Zealand) popped out of its centre, piquing his interest immediately, and setting him on a career focused on these industrious insects.

A MAN ON A MISSION

Forgie began a Masters degree on the efficiency of this dung beetle in New Zealand pastures. It turned out to be