Pests & Weeds

Insect pests and weeds: Protecting alfalfa’s yield potential

marian@agproud.com — Thu, 19 Mar 2026 00:00:00 -0400

Alfalfa’s genetic yield potential decreases when insects and weeds aren’t caught early with consistent, threshold‑based scouting.

Weeds in my hay? How unwanted guests in alfalfa may affect forage quality

cmaki@uidaho.edu — Thu, 17 Jul 2025 00:00:00 -0400

That green field of alfalfa might look lush from the roadside – but what’s lurking in the mix could be quietly reducing your forage quality, lowering animal intake and even risking nitrate toxicity. Learn which weeds do the most damage, how they impact feed value and what you can do to protect your first cutting and your herd.

New pesticide rules aren’t just a farmer’s problem – ranchers, take note

annalisa@buddfalen.com — Thu, 15 May 2025 00:00:00 -0400

Think pesticide regulations only affect farmers? Think again. Recent changes to the federal pesticide registration process could limit how – and where – ranchers can use pesticides to manage rangeland resources. Whether you use zinc phosphide to manage prairie dog populations or malathion to control grasshopper outbreaks, these new rules may directly affect your ability to manage these pests.

May 2025 new product rollout

Mon, 28 Apr 2025 00:00:00 -0400

Check out new products from John Deere, Kubota and more.

Effective fall and winter grazing for cheatgrass management

hudsont@wsu.edu — Mon, 26 Aug 2024 00:00:00 -0400

Invasive plants have created novel rangeland landscapes, requiring novel responses in vegetation management. We cannot turn back the clock to a time before cheatgrass, medusahead and ventenata – invasive annual grasses that are part of the new normal in the western U.S.

The unseen expense of weed competition

Fri, 31 May 2024 00:00:00 -0400

Here is a five-step system for managing hidden costs. While this example focuses on weed control, the system can be applied across many farming and business management areas.

Get more from your pastures in 2024 and beyond

sam.ingram@corteva.com — Wed, 22 May 2024 00:00:00 -0400

Take advantage of this window – a time when there are fewer hooves on the ground – to position your grazing acres for when you decide the time is right to grow your herd.

Effective weed control in an uncertain regulatory environment

Thu, 16 May 2024 00:00:00 -0400

Every day, farmers deal with variables out of their control, from weather to mechanical issues to weed pressure. In recent weeks, a new variable has affected many U.S. growers.

How NRCS programs help producers improve grazing lands through conservation practices

FPAC.BC.Press@usda.gov — Tue, 23 Apr 2024 00:00:00 -0400

The NRCS, the USDA’s primary private lands conservation agency, supports producers by providing one-on-one, personalized assistance to help them address the specific needs of their operations through financial and free technical assistance.

Poisonous plants that threaten livestock operations

cheyannem@uidaho.edu — Mon, 08 Apr 2024 00:00:00 -0400

Poisonous plants cost the livestock industry upward of $500 million annually due to animal losses and increased management costs. It is your responsibility as an animal owner and operator to protect your livestock from toxic plants.

A growing concern for fescue toxicosis within the dairy industry

carmen.burner@uga.edu — Mon, 18 Mar 2024 00:00:00 -0400

Tall fescue is a hearty deep-rooted perennial that grows widely across 15 states in the southeastern U.S. and covers more than 35 million acres.

4 reasons to manage weeds in your alfalfa stand

rkern@wardlab.com — Tue, 12 Mar 2024 00:00:00 -0400

Weedy alfalfa is often a concern when water resources are scarce. The weeds sometimes even seem to outcompete the alfalfa in extremely dry years. Weeds can impact forage quality and contribute to toxicities.

Know these livestock-poisonous and abortifacient plants

Tue, 05 Mar 2024 00:00:00 -0500

Undesirable genetic traits causing fetal abnormalities have occurred throughout the evolution of livestock selection. There are more than 20 genetic traits cattle breeders monitor in the A.I. industry.

Emerging alfalfa threats and how to beat them in 2024

curtis.rainbolt@basf.com — Tue, 20 Feb 2024 00:00:00 -0500

A few weeks ago, I had the opportunity to moderate a panel discussion about emerging threats in alfalfa at the Western Alfalfa & Forage Symposium in Sparks, Nevada.

Identify toxic plant issues on your next walkabout

Wed, 14 Feb 2024 00:00:00 -0500

Bodyweight alone may be the defining reason mature cows are not affected by toxins that can cause abortion in younger animals. Or perhaps it’s just, well, cow sense.

Dormant-season grazing is key to controlling invasive annual grasses

scottj@uidaho.edu — Thu, 04 Jan 2024 00:00:00 -0500

In most instances, the dormant season (late fall and winter) provides the best opportunity to remove litter and germinating annual grass seedlings without negatively affecting perennial plants.

Spotted lanternflies hitchhiking across the country

Fri, 01 Sep 2023 10:42:54 -0400

The spotted lanternfly is a planthopper commonly mistaken for a moth. Their life cycle consists of five stages, but the most recognizable is the adult stage, with its striking red and spotted wings.

The sting of sandburs

vacorriher@ag.tamu.edu — Thu, 09 Mar 2023 16:34:33 -0500

We often think of the sandbur species as being a warm-season annual plant. However, many of these are classified as perennials, which can survive from one year to the next.

Witches’ brew

woody@woodylane.com — Tue, 20 Dec 2022 09:31:33 -0500

The year of 1692 was a bad year in the town of Salem, Massachusetts. The previous spring had been warm and rainy, and the main crop of cereal rye had been harvested during the summer and threshed around Thanksgiving.

Maintenance in the dormant season

pkeyser@utk.edu — Tue, 18 Oct 2022 16:30:57 -0400

Native warm-season grasses will be fully dormant by late October and do not break dormancy again until late March in the Mid-South.

Where hay is plentiful for interstate movement, what about weeds?

bravomelissa@yahoo.com — Mon, 17 Oct 2022 16:37:27 -0400

While undesirable for purity and "invasiveness," even if unpalatable, many of the common and troublesome weeds that detract from quality can provide more than 6% crude protein and more than 50% TDN toward an animal’s daily intake needs.

Blister beetles in alfalfa and when to worry

Thu, 31 Mar 2022 13:00:01 -0400

The drought conditions affecting some forage-producing areas of the country have seen an uptick in blister beetle activity. Blister beetles are rarely problematic in the Upper Midwest, but drought conditions increase the concern for blister beetle-infested alfalfa.

The growing toolbox of weed management

Thu, 31 Mar 2022 13:00:01 -0400

University researchers are testing methods for controlling herbicide-resistant weeds at harvest.

Managing insecticide-resistant alfalfa weevils

kwanner@montana.edu — Thu, 31 Mar 2022 13:00:01 -0400

The alfalfa weevil (Hypera postica) has developed resistance to the most common, effective and affordable insecticides used to control its damage (pyrethroids), complicating and threatening current management.

Pickpocket: How to keep gophers from stealing your profit

rabaldwin@ucdavis.edu — Thu, 31 Mar 2022 13:00:01 -0400

Pocket gophers are often the most damaging vertebrate pests in alfalfa. The amount and form of damage they cause can be quite varied but includes a loss in vigor and/or mortality of plants, damage to subsurface drip lines and loss of irrigation water down burrow systems.

Early weed control planning: The key to improved hay quality and more profit

Thu, 11 Nov 2021 23:27:03 -0500

Hay growers throughout the south lose significant profits every year because of weed infestations.

Weeds are coming for their pound of milk

aadjesiwor@uidaho.edu — Wed, 29 Sep 2021 03:56:15 -0400

If you have ever driven through southern Idaho in the summer, you will notice there is alfalfa and corn everywhere. Knowing weeds would almost always be present in crops, the question hay producers often ask is: Should we harvest the weeds? How much weed biomass is too much? We know weeds are bad for farm animals, but is there a tipping point? The short answer is: I don’t know.

Avoid pennywise and pound-foolish decisions

chad@westernforage.com — Mon, 31 May 2021 13:00:01 -0400

I know just enough about social media to be dangerous. I don’t spend a lot of time online, but I do belong to some forage groups, and I enjoy following some of the questions and debates. Recently, a fertilizer discussion caught my eye.

What does the 2021 hay market look like?

jwbradley@noble.org — Mon, 31 May 2021 13:00:01 -0400

In economics, the simplest you can get is supply and demand. These two items will just about determine a price for any commodity. The hay market is no different. Both the supply and demand side have their own factors that influence them.

Biological control of corn rootworm with native N.Y. entomopathogenic nematodes

Mon, 08 Mar 2021 20:53:43 -0500

In 2021, the level of corn rootworm (CRW) resistance to the current Bt-RW corn varieties will increase another significant level with associated yield losses.