Weather

Most of the county got rain on Sunday and some areas got damage from some high winds. Most of the damage included trees and limbs being blown over and some damage to storage buildings. There was very limited damage to any crops. There was some rice blown down and the tops out of dried down corn snapped, but we luckily missed the bad stuff. Rain amounts varied from 1.5 inches to 0.25 inches. After the rain, we had mild temperatures and low humidity for a few days. It was a nice week.

Heat and humidity are back in the forecast this week. We have a good chance for rain at the end of the week.

Arkansas and Mississippi River

Harvest

Harvest has started in Faulkner County. Several acres of corn have already been harvested and rice and soybean harvest started this week. Hopefully everyone will have a great harvest with no problems!

Rice

Rice harvest started the beginning of this week on some DG263. It really looks good and the yield seems to be doing good.

We still have some fields that are being treated for rice stink bugs. Anyone that has late planted rice needs to keep an eye on stink bugs. They are moving out of the more mature fields into the newly headed fields.

I have seen a little bit of kernel smut out there but it doesn't seem bad this year. I have yet to see any false smut.

Below is the link for last Friday's Rice Update from Dr. Jarrod Hardke.

Soybeans

Scouting soybeans I have noticed two pests that we need to pay attention too. They both are defoliators and one concerns me much more than the other.

Blister Beetles continue to be reported in many different areas of Faulkner County. I have had a garden call, a pasture call, a millet call and I have seen them today in soybeans. Usually you see them in big wads and they totally defoliate what ever they are eating on. But usually that area is where they stay and then they are gone. Treat when you have 25% defoliation after blooming, but it is rare to treat them.

I have also started finding Velvetbean Caterpillars in several fields. This is another insect that is rare that we treat, BUT I have seen them totally defoliate fields before. For some reason they are always worse in Conway County, but I remember a few years ago they came into Conway County and before anyone knew it the leaves were gone. Don't sleep on this one, keep an eye out for defoliation. Just like blister beetles, treat when there is 25% defoliation. Velvetbean Caterpillars will be on the leaves, and they wiggle violently when they are touched. Most loopers do the same thing but the difference between loopers and Velvetbeans is the prolegs. Velvetbean Caterpillars have four sets of prolegs. Anyone that needs help with identification just give me a call.

Corn earworm moth trap numbers were up this week, and I continue to catch worms in all the soybeans I have swept, but I still haven't found any fields at treatment level. Continue to scout.

Corn

Corn harvest continues on a good pace. So far yield reports are good. Might be one of the best ever the way it is going. There will be some dryland fields that will cut the best they ever have. With everyone harvesting good yields and the Midwest predicted to have a good crop, there doesn't look like much hope for the low price unfortunately.

Corn Earworm Moth Traps

Earworm moth counts in the Cadron trap went down this week but are still high. The other two traps had increases in counts. We need to continue to scout for earworms as moth numbers increase.

ARMYWORM ALERT!

I am starting to get reports of armyworms starting back up in Faulkner County hay fields. This picture was taken this morning on a field I scouted in Saltillo. Make sure to get back out into your fields and scout if you are trying to make another hay harvest.

Some of the reports I have gotten are finding very small worms that just hatched. Remember to hold off treating those until the worms get bigger. A population that is all small worms is not eating that much and there are several things that could lead to that population to crash naturally. But once they get to the size that is in this picture they are working the grass over and eating......ALOT!

Lambda and Dimilin is still recommended, but I would seriously look at Besiege. The last spray that was put out, there was some populations that were not stopped with Lambda and Dimilin. I know Besiege costs more, but someone told me once that the most expensive treatment is the one that don't work.

Another thing to remember is that these are restricted use pesticides. You will have to have a license to purchase these products.

Blister Beetles

Kelly Loftin - Extension Entomologist

Blister beetles are a concern to livestock producers (especially horse owners) not because of the forage they consume but potential poisoning of livestock that consume hay contaminated with cantharidin producing blister beetles. The most common concern is related to feeding alfalfa to horses. Although cattle, goats and sheep are potentially susceptible to cantharidiasis (blister beetle poisoning), horses are the most susceptible. Although all blister beetles produce cantharidin, species that contain large amounts of cantharidin and those that are more prone to congregate on preferred host plants are of more concern. The two species that pose the most risk for livestock poisoning are the threestriped blister beetle (Epicauta vittata) and the striped blister beetle (Epicauta occidentalis). Table 1 shows the estimated number of beetles (containing high and low amounts of cantharidin) that would need to be consumed to cause mortality in horses of various weights. The minimum lethal dose of cantharidin for horses is estimated at 1 mg per kilogram of body weight.

Blister beetles belong in the Family Meloidae with about 300 species occurring in the U.S. Most blister beetles have only one generation per year. Adult beetles lay eggs in the soil. Eggs will hatch into blister beetle larvae that can molt several times before transforming into pupa (the overwintering stage). Subterranean grasshopper eggs are the main prey of blister beetle larvae. Adults emerge from the soil throughout the growing season, however, the period of peak emergence varies with the species. Adults feed on alfalfa flowers and foliage as well as soybeans, clover, peanuts, peas, and weeds (goldenrod, pigweed, goathead and puncturevine). Blister beetles are gregarious and often congregate in large swarms within alfalfa fields and on other host plants listed above.

The major concern is blister beetle contaminated hay. Contamination of hay usually occurs when beetles are crushed during the crimping process or if beetles are crushed by equipment wheels prior to baling. Once contaminated, the hay does NOT lose toxicity because cantharidin remains stable in dead beetles and does not degrade with heat or drying.

Concerns with respect to blister beetles in alfalfa hay cannot be totally eliminated. However, specific harvesting practices can reduce the potential for blister beetle contamination. These practices include:

1.   Cut hay without using crimpers (additional drying time might be required).

2.   Use a sickle mower without a conditioner (usually slower and can allow time for beetles to get out of the way).

3.   Avoid driving equipment on cut hay (helps prevent crushing beetles into the hay).

4.   Cut hay prior to 10% bloom (hay cut in the early bloom stage minimizes beetle attraction to the flowers).

5.   Use small square bales for horse hay so that hay flakes can be inspected for beetles as it is being fed.

6.   Match cutting with the market (first cutting alfalfa (May) and late September alfalfa are before and after the major blister beetle season and are the best cuttings to target for horse buyers).

7.   Thoroughly inspect and scout fields just before and during harvest to detect blister beetle presence.

Hay Production Estimates

A common theme I am hearing this year is "I have made a lot of hay, more than I will need for the year." Most producers covered their need for this year by the second cutting and here we are starting the third cutting in many instances, with hopes of getting one more! We were blessed with plenty of rain and some good production this year. The USDA recently released the estimated production numbers and for Arkansas we are up 21.8% in production from 2023. That means we have a lot of hay this year!

You can read more about 2024 hay production across the south in this weeks Cattle Market Notes Weekly, which is towards the end of this newsletter.

Birdshot in Beef: The Hidden Defect

Mark Z. Johnson, Oklahoma State University Extension Beef Cattle Breeding Specialist

Birdshot or shotgun shell pellets have been found and reported in the beef supply since the first National Beef Quality Audit in the early 1990s and the incidence of this foreign material in the beef we produce is not subsiding. In fact, the opposite may be true.

According to the 2022 National Beef Quality Audit, birdshot is a problem, with 100% of packing plants reporting Buckshot/Birdshot in beef from market cows and bulls. There are roughly 28 categories of items that are documented each year as foreign material in beef carcasses. Most of those items are found once to 15 times each on an annual basis and consist of large and easily identifiable objects. Birdshot, however, is found around 105 times a year and well over two times the rate of any other foreign object.

For context, if a ground beef processor makes 5 million ground beef patties each day, a defect rate of 1% would lead to 50,000 patties of wasted beef. A defect rate of 0.1% is 5,000 patties. A single incidence of birdshot found in the processing lines cost $10,000 in lost product and downtime. Why so much? If a pellet made it through the grinder, one pellet may have been sheared into numerous pieces that are barely detectable. 

Bottomline: hunters are not causing this problem, there are some out there handling their cattle with shotguns. This is not only poor animal handling, but also inhumane. Buckshot will not bounce off cattle and somehow go away. No matter how stupid or waspy cows and bulls might act, they should not be shot at whether intentionally or by accident.

We need everyone on board to get the message out in producer meetings, educational programming, and word of mouth. If we focus on promoting the Right Way mentality of Beef Quality Assurance, we can make a difference. Ultimately, birdshot, needles, darts, and other foreign objects in beef are a food safety issue. Any abuse of animals is not acceptable and shotguns are not a cattle handling tool.

Webinar “Abortion and Respiratory Diseases in Sheep and Goats”

This webinar will be on August 27 (Tuesday) from 12:00 to 1:00 p.m (CT) promoted by the University of Missouri .

The guest speaker is Dr. Maggie Highland, DVM, PhD, Dipl. ACVP.

The loss of lambs and kids due to abortion directly reduces the number of offspring, impacting the overall productivity and profitability of the flock. Respiratory diseases can impair productivity which translate into financial loss for the producer. Managing outbreaks of abortion and respiratory diseases often requires significant intervention, including diagnostics, treatments, and preventative measures.

Dr. Highland is the section head of pathology sciences, Wisconsin Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory, University of Wisconsin-Madison. She maintains a strong interest in small ruminant health and disease, particularly infectious disease processes and immunology.

This webinar is hosted/facilitated by Dr. David Brown (University of Missouri Sheep & Goats Specialist). 

Pesticide Applicator Training

I have lined up some in person Pesticide Applicator Trainings for the remainder of 2024. If you need to get recertified or looking to get certified for the first time, you need to attend on of these trainings coming up. Please call or email and register for the class. You can call and talk to Mindy Beard at the office at 501-329-8344 or email at rbeard@uada.edu

All of these will be held at the Faulkner County Extension Office at 844 Faulkner St, Conway.

September 26 - 6:00 PM

November 7 - 6:00 PM

December 5 - 6:00 PM

You can still take the training online if you would like. The link is below.

Sign up for Text Alerts

You can now sign up for text alerts from me throughout the year. I have two areas you can sign up for which includes Faulkner Livestock or Faulkner Ag (Row Crop Updates). To sign up you can follow one of these links or use the QR Codes below.

Pesticide Applicator Trainings - Faulkner County Extension Office

September 26 - 6:00 PM

November 7 - 6:00 PM

December 5 - 6:00 PM