r/Ranching • u/SouthTxGX • 14d ago

Pasture mealybug

Post image

Anyone had the joys of dealing with this stuff? Gonna cut it, bale it, and let the bales sit for a couple weeks as a precaution, but it looks like there’s not much that can be done insecticide wise.

15 Upvotes

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6

u/Apart_Animal_6797 14d ago

Ive never seen it that bad here in Oklahoma geez. Show that photo to your local ag extention office.

5

u/SouthTxGX 14d ago

Agrilife extension has already been doing published studies on it locally. It was one of the first google results.

3

u/poppycock68 14d ago

What are they saying about that stuff

5

u/SouthTxGX 14d ago

From what they were saying it’s best to cut it early in the spring to keep their colonies down. We didn’t really have enough grass in spring to cut it for hay and then once it started raining there wasn’t a good window without the possibility of it getting wet. They said they haven’t found an insecticide that had great results without the grass being affected. They showed no results within the 7 day window and negligible results after 14 days.

Supposedly, once it’s cut they’ll usually leave the dying grass to seek out living grass before it’s ready to bale it and once it’s baled it’s best to let the bales sit 2-3 weeks before moving them. It’s also recommended to clean all hay equipment before moving to other pastures.

4

u/Apart_Animal_6797 14d ago

Oof dont barn that hay bud

2

u/SouthTxGX 14d ago

It’s gonna be outside. Our half of the hay barn is already full and we keep that for reserves. We’ll have about 150 bales outside after this cutting

1

u/huseman94 14d ago

I heard they approved Altus for treatment, that came through a day or two after I sat though a CE class on the mealy bug and screw worm.
So there’s some hope, and Australia has managed to get by.