Uses
Cow dung (usually combined with soiled bedding and urine) is often used as manure (agricultural fertilizer). If not recycled into the soil by species such as earthworms and dung beetles, cow dung can dry out and remain on the pasture, creating an area of grazing land which is unpalatable to livestock.
In many parts of the developing world, and in the past in mountain regions of Europe, caked and dried cow dung is used as fuel.
Dung may also be collected and used to produce biogas to generate electricity and heat. The gas is rich in methane and is used in rural areas of India/Pakistan and elsewhere to provide a renewable and stable source of electricity.
In central Africa, Maasai villages have burned cow dung inside to repel mosquitos. In cold places, cow dung is used to line the walls of rustic houses as a cheap thermal insulator.
Cow dung is also an optional ingredient in the manufacture of adobe mud brick housing depending on the availability of materials at hand.
A deposit of cow dung is referred to in American English as a "cow pie," and in British English as a cowpat. Also known as "cow chips" when dry, it is used in the practice of "cow chip throwing" popularized in Beaver, Oklahoma in 1970. Another game is Cow Chip Bingo.
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