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blister beetle ??? Problem in Alfalfa. Calling Nancy Howell

J

JDseller

Well-known Member
In my earlier posting about horse care. LMAO at me writing about caring for horses. That is about like a blind man writing an art review. MAN I hate them things. Anyway. Nancy Howell said she would not feed alfalfa because of "blister beetle" problems. What are they??? I have never heard of them in Iowa.
 
They have a fluid in them that will make a blister on your skin, reason for the name. When a horse eats hay with a Blister Bug in it the same thing happens to the horse digestive system. In addition a horse depends on micro bodies living within their system to brake down the food. The Blister Bug kills these.
Frank
 
(quoted from post at 21:48:22 08/19/11) In my earlier posting about horse care. LMAO at me writing about caring for horses. That is about like a blind man writing an art review. MAN I hate them things. Anyway. Nancy Howell said she would not feed alfalfa because of "blister beetle" problems. [b:8e7455f870]What are they???[/b:8e7455f870] I have never heard of them in Iowa.
Click to expand...

They look just like a "lightening bug/fire fly" only bigger and their butts don't "light" up. They also have yellow stripes running along their backs.
They have a toxin in them that will make horses sick if they eat enough hay that contains the toxin after the bettles get mashed by a mower/conditioner.

Some farmers here, open the rollers up on their mocos, so the hay doesn't get crimped and the live bettles can leave the windrows as the hay dries.
The bettles thrive in alfalfa because of the grasshopper larva found there.
 
I have been raising alfalfa for over 50 years. I have never seen blister beetle north of southern Colorado and those were transported in from Southern New Mexico. I live and grow in the middle Rio Grande Valley north of Albuquerque. If you suspect you have Blister Beetles you can spray with Malathion which will kill them and is only active for 5-10 days after application and safe to harvest after 14 days. Also if you think that you may be dealing with them is cut with less than 10% bloom. They are attracted to the blossoms. If you are infested and these options are beyond your capability, then use a cycle mower and cut the hay. Don"t use a crimper or conditioner as these will crush the insect into the crop and actually make it worse. Blister beetles are usually found in the first or second cutting depending on where you are. They usually come out of the infested ground. I have only had to deal with them once and I caught them early and haven"t seen any since.I used a boom sprayer and Malathion.
 
One of the best mitigation measures if you have blister beatles in hay that is ready to cut is to use a plain, old fashioned sickle mower, set to cut low. The beatles will leave the alfalfa as the hay cures. What gets you with them is when you use a disk cutter or crimper, which splats the beatles and their toxic juices all over the hay. A sickle will cut below where they are and leave them undisturbed. They should leave as the hay dries.
 
Some blister beetle facts.... Most of the horse farm managers I deal with dont consider them an issue in hay sourced east of the Mississippi River. It seems that where you get the disasterous populations is in alfalfa coming out of the Kansas to Texas region.
Blister Beetle Fact Sheet
 
Common problem in Oklahoma and Texas for sure.

Causes severe gastrointestinal ulceration and colic.
 
Another fact is that they are related to "spanish fly", a supposed aphrodisiac for women. Legend says if you put just the right amount in a woman's drink, when the toxin goes through her urinary system it causes an intense itch in the genital area. Too much and she gets blisters or can even die. Sounds pretty barbaric to me, but studying toxins is one of my hobbies.
 
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