Wheat head armyworm update; dairy herd retirement audits complete
Washington Ag Today July 6, 2009 An update on the wheat head armyworm from Washington State University Extension says moth flights of the pest have peaked and most of the larvae should have hatched by this time. Diana Roberts with WSU Spokane County Extension says it is recommended that farmers across Lincoln and Spokane counties scout their fields regularly for the wheat head armyworm larvae. Roberts says infestations may occur in pockets within a field, so don’t rely on a windshield check. Extension is not recommending that growers spray at the first sign of the insect but if a set of ten 180 degree sweeps with a net yields 15 larvae, it is cause for concern. Cooperatives Working Together, CWT says it has finished the farm audits of its seventh dairy herd retirement round since the program began in 2003. Chris Galen of the National Milk Producers Federation, which manages CWT, says just as in the past the largest milk reduction will occur in the Southwest and West. Galen: “The Western part of the country, which is California, Idaho and the northwest, that‘s about a 760-million pound milk reduction.” CWT says four dairy herds in Washington had been liquidated in this round as of late last week. Two were near Enumclaw, one at Newman Lake and one at Wapato. In all over 101-thousand dairy cows are being removed that produced nearly two billion pounds of milk. Galen says additional herd retirements are likely this year given the depressed state of milk prices. I’m Bob Hoff and that’s Washington Ag Today on the Northwest Ag Information Network.
