Can you burn dried cowpies in wood burning stove

[prairiebird]

for warmth and cooking?

We live in a rural community with lots of manure! Wondering about all that free fuel..

TIA!

[farmergirl]

What a fabulous idea! Waiting to see what answers you get...

[farmerj]

It was used in the past.

Just make sure it's dry

[NELSELGNE]

YES. Dung is the cooking fuel for a lot of the world.
http://www.ehow.com/how_8274906_use-manure-fuel.html

The following stove company lists cow pies as a fuel source.
http://www.sedorestovewest.com/

[Harry Chickpea]

One of the reasons India embraced bio-gas was that people were getting all sorts of eye ailments from the open cooking fires using dung. Got that straight from Ram Bux Singh himself.

[RonM]

I would have to be awfully cold....

[Ken Scharabok]

Yes, buffalo chips were used by the pioneers moving West. However, in a fireplace or stove I doubt the heat returned would be worth the cost of harvesting and storage.

A better use would be to layer them on a compost pile.

[Windy in Kansas]

Yes they can readily be used. They burn hot and fast and leave a fine ash.

Here is a link which shows a pioneer woman on the prairie collecting a wheelbarrow of chips. http://www.chronicleoftheoldwest.com...tiveness.shtml

[oldasrocks]

The old Indian chief told the tribe. I have good news and bad news. The bad news is all the game has run away and all we have left to eat is buffalo chips. The good news is we have plenty of buffalo chops.

[FarmboyBill]

Sound like a buncha bulls snit to me lol I can fry 6 eggs on a empty feed sack. Ought to be able to do the same thing with a couple cow nurds

[Farmerwilly2]

I pictured Crocodile Dundee answering: "Sure, you can cook with it, but it smells like ..."

[Shadow]

Remember the saying from Nam, "I love the smell of burning cow pies in the morning", wait that was the smell of burning napham. I just don't see me picking up cow patties, stacking them in the dry till they are dry and then using them to scramble me up a mess of eggs.
The people that used buffalo chips had nothing else, if they could find a supply of wood you can bet they would have used it. Just think Cooking Thanks giving dinner over cow pies that wonderful smell. We can't come we have plans.

[Tabitha]

In the seventies I knew an old woman who was raised in Nebraska. She was born in a sod house, and to quote her, cooked many a meal on a buffalo chip fire. she said they gave good heat.

[forfreedom]

I read would you burn "cowpeas".... And I was like, dang, why would you burn food.

But yes, certainly yes. My grandma, and the whole village she lived in burned cow dung for heat. They even made houses from dung. Take a lot of dung, mix it with hay (with your bare feet) and use it in lieu of poured concrete. Worked just as well.

[GoldenCityMuse]

You can burn most anything if it is dry.

[City Bound]

They are used in india. I would say, try a few to see what you think.

In india what they do is take the dung, clump it in a ball, then smack it on a south facing wall. The dun gsticks to the wall in a clump and then dries in the sun, and when it is dry it comes off the wall pretty easy, and it is stacked and stored.

If you try this, wear gloves and smack the dung onto old plywood leaning against a wall.

[wogglebug]

You can do it. Burns a bit like charcoal briquettes - burns with a red glow rather than flames, and burns down to a fine ash.

However, it is also a nitrogenous fertiliser; and probably more valuable for that unless you absolutely can't get or can't afford anything else to burn. One of the major "appropriate technology" advances in India has been to get a manure digester for village use, that produces methane gas for burning, and saves the residue for use as fertiliser. Food yields are MUCH higher than when they were just burning their fertiliser.

[motdaugrnds]

Those wagon trains did it on their trip west; however, their fires were out in the open. I would hesitate to burn cow pods indoors (for health reasons).

[uncle Will in In.]

My little brother tried making a camp fire using goat marbles. The neighbors thought lightning had struck our outhouse!

[geo in mi]

Can you burn cow pies in your woodstove? Certainly, but you should take them out before they burn..........

Can you burn cowpies in your woodstove? Certainly, and you can dry them in your drier........

geo