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Central Kansas | Bill...good information. I have been told using a non-conditioner mower will only be of benefit if you straddle a windrow....as running the tractor on the hay will squash the beetles the same as the conditioner rolls. What machine do you use?
Some management practices can lessen the chance of having beetles in your hay, but of course, cannot guarantee there won't be one. 1st cutting in bud or pre-bud helps with subsequent cuttings with only 1/10 bloom or so. Of course, to get carbos back into the plant root system, you need to get some bloom and maturity on a cutting or two...but less bloom will attract fewer BB's. More northern locations are better (but Kansas has had mild winters and we are getting more BB's), less weeds helps, cutting low is supposed to help and allow some fly away time.
There apparently are a number of scams on record with purported expensive horse death attributed to blister beetles....and lawsuits. Anytime non-agriculture folks get into a fringe area of ag....they bring with them their non-ag ideas about lots of things. If you have a new roof and it leaks...they sue the roofer for the damages...etc, etc. There is an increasing number of hobby or pleasure horse owners in much of the US and they buy hay. They know little about this commodity and seem to absorb what they learn from others...be it right or wrong. I think my approach will be kinda an 'up-town' way of dealing with them. They will have to sign a waiver that states they realize there is a chance of blister beetle in any of my hay products and purchase transfers that responsibility to them. If they don't sign it.....they can get hay elsewhere. This could still be nullified by sharp lawyers I suspect, but it would be a good start to have people take responsibility for something. | |
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Blister Beetle Boogie
