From a camping trip with my sons earlier this fall:
I call this photo, “Hey Dad – can we use dried cow manure for campfire fuel?”
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I call this second photo, “Hey Dad – take a picture of the sparks when I throw this piece of dried manure on the fire!”
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Ah…happy family memories.
The Prairie Ecologist 
Is there some kind of “squish test” you need to apply to determine if they are dried enough to burn well? I assume there’s some threshold of freshness below which the fire doesn’t look so, well, “perky”. Have you developed any kind of state and transition model to determine just where this threshold might be and whether it does, in fact, exist, or is it just something imagined by squeamish “city folks?” I might just stick with the old Yule Log. Happy Holidays!
Good one, Peter. Nothing as technical as what you suggest. My threshold is that if you can pick up the manure pile and it comes up as one solid piece, it’s fuel. If it folds or smushes (or worse) it’s not done yet.
Does the same test apply when you select them for tossing, or are there other aerodynamic criteria that must be accounted for as well?
I wish my kids had been that easily entertained!!
Ah, what a beautiful fire (even if it is only “patties”) Sure beats sitting in the house!
Years back when my older son was maybe 6 or 7, we were in the parking lot of a convenience store in the small West Texas town of Junction buying bait before fishing. An old dude drove up next to us in a battered pickup truck. When he got out he asked, “What are y’all doing?” When we told him we were going fishing, he said to me, “You know, when I see a dad going fishing with his son, I know that boy’s gonna be alright!”
Chris, I know your sons are gonna be alright!
Thanks Rick. They’ll be glad to hear that.
Good story!
I look forward to spending time like that with my son when he gets a little older.