April 2022 Edition

Agriculture & Natural Resources
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Estill County Farm Scoop - April 2022

Upcoming CAIP education component
   Estill County Extension will be offering a CAIP education component on Thursday, April 14th beginning at 5:30 p.m. prior to the Estill County Beef Producers Meeting. If you have any questions, please contact the Estill Extension Office at 606-723-4557.

Using a stock dog in your cattle operation
   Josh Yarber, stock dog trainer, will be the guest speaker at the April 14th Beef Producers and Cattlemen Association meeting.  Yarber will talk about the benefits of using a dog with your cattle. Josh has been training dogs for a number of years and has a passion for teaching the dog, and farmers, how beneficial this practice can be.  The Beef Producers and Cattlemen’s meeting will start at 6:30 p.m. at the Estill County Extension Office.

Vegetable Gardening for Beginners
   There will be a Vegetable Gardening for Beginners class on Thursday, April 28 beginning at 6 p.m. See the flyer on page 4 of this newsletter for more information  and how to sign up. 

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If you have borrowed a soil probe from the Estill County Extension Service, please return as soon as possible. A few have been loaned out to local residents and have yet to be returned. 

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Signs of Avian Influenza

 

Avian influenza is a virus that affects bird populations. There are many different strains of avian influenza that cause varying degrees of illness in birds. The most common types of avian influenza are routinely detected in wild birds and cause little concern. Highly Pathogenicity of “high path” Avian Influenza (HPAI) is often fatal in chickens and turkeys. HPAI spreads rapidly and has a high death rate in birds.

Identifying Infected Birds
Birds infected with the HPAI virus may show one or more of the following signs:

· Sudden death without clinical signs;

· Lack of energy and appetite;

· Decreased egg production or soft-shelled or misshapen eggs;

· Swelling of head, comb, eyelid, wattles, comb, and legs;

· Nasal discharge, coughing, and sneezing;

· Incoordination; or

· Diarrhea

Biosecurity Measures on the Farm
Veterinarians should work with poultry producers to strengthen biosecurity practices. Recommended biosecurity measures include

· Establishing an “all-in, all-out” flock-management policy;

· Preventing exposure to wild birds or water or ground contaminated by wild birds;

· Closing bird areas to nonessential personnel or vehicles;

· Providing employees with clean clothing and disinfection facilities and all directions for their use;

· Thoroughly cleaning and disinfecting the equipment and vehicles (including tires and undercarriage) when entering or leaving the farm;

· Avoiding the borrowing or lending of equipment or vehicles; and

· Limiting visits to other poultry farms, exhibitions, fairs, and sales or swap meets (if visits must occur, change footwear and clothing on their return);

Sick bird hotline
Sick or dead farm birds can be reported to USDA toll-free at 1-866-536-7593.

Keep up to date on Kentucky’s response by visiting: https://www.kyagr.com/statevet/HPAI.html

Information obtained  from Kentucky Department of Agriculture Office of State Veterinarian Press Release

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Eastern tent caterpillar egg hatch now underway for Central Kentucky

Eastern tent caterpillars have begun to hatch, with the first detections in Southern Kentucky last week.  According to entomologists in the University of Kentucky College of Agriculture, Food and Environment, the caterpillars, which can cause foal losses, are expected in Central Kentucky by this or next week and Northern Kentucky a few days to a week after that.  

After spending about nine months as eggs in masses on twigs of wild cherry and related trees, the first tiny eastern tent caterpillars of the season are now leaving their eggs said Jonathan Larson, UK extension entomologist. The egg hatch normally occurs at 50% bloom of forsythia, the interval between first and full bloom of the common spring-blooming plant. The larvae are among spring’s first active insects and are well-equipped to cope with Kentucky’s erratic temperature swings. Egg hatch occurs over several weeks in early spring. This increases the chance for survival in case of late freezes. The caterpillars grow and develop when the temperature is above 37 degrees F. Their preferred food plants are wild cherry, apple and crabapple, but they may appear on hawthorn, maple, cherry, peach, pear and plum as well. 

When mature, the 2- to 2.5-inch long, hairy caterpillars have a habit of wandering from their host trees to seek protected areas to spin their cocoons, or to seek additional food if their natal tree becomes defoliated. At such times, they may crawl along fence lines and into pastures. 

Consumption of large numbers of caterpillars by pregnant mares caused staggering foal losses in the Mare Reproductive Loss Syndrome outbreak of 1999-2001. MRLS can cause early- and late-term foal losses or weak foals. UK researchers conducted studies that revealed horses will inadvertently eat the caterpillars when present in pastures and feedstuffs. It is the caterpillar hairs, specifically the cuticles of those hairs, that embed into the lining of the horse’s alimentary tract. Once that protective barrier is breached, normal alimentary tract bacteria may gain access to and reproduce in sites with reduced immunity, such as the fetus and placenta. 

If practical, farm managers should move pregnant mares from areas where wild cherry trees are abundant to minimize the chance of caterpillar exposure. The threat is greatest when the mature caterpillars leave trees and wander to find places to pupate and transform to the moth stage. 

Eastern tent caterpillars are also a nuisance to people living near heavily infested trees. The nests and defoliation are unsightly, and the caterpillars may wander hundreds of yards in search of protected sites to spin cocoons and pupate. 

“Managing ETC in small ornamental trees, such as flowering crabapples, is easy,” said Daniel Potter, UK entomology professor “Just wear a pair of grocery store plastic bags like mittens, climb a stepladder, pull out the tents, turn the bags inside out to ‘bag’ the caterpillars and stomp them. Pruning out nests in ornamental trees sounds great, but in reality, by the time they are noticed, they’re often in branch crotches where pruning will compromise the symmetry of the tree. 

“Spraying the flowering fruit and decorative trees preferred by the caterpillars can be a bee hazard – and with some products, a label violation – because the trees are in bloom with bees visiting them at the same time eastern tent caterpillars are active,” he said. 

According to Potter, caterpillar management around horse farm paddocks comes down to keeping pregnant mares away from infested trees and either removing or not planting preferred host trees near paddocks. Additionally, controlling the caterpillars with insecticides may be warranted in some settings. That may require treating tall trees that are difficult to spray. 

For the latter scenario, professional arborists treat via trunk injection. Products labeled for eastern tent caterpillar control include Tree-äge and TreeMec (emamectin 
benzoate), Inject-A-Cide B (Bidrin), Abacide 2 (abamectin) and Lepitect (acephate). Applicators should read and follow all label instructions. All of the aforementioned
 injectable products are labeled for use on horse farms. 

For farms that are interested in prevention over the winter months, Larson recommended farms search for and destroy egg masses before they hatch.  

“Egg masses can be seen over the winter, they look like sparkly, pyrite gum wrapped around twigs and branches,” he said.  

For more information about how to assess trees for egg masses, the UK Entomology publication, Checking Eastern Tent Caterpillar Egg Masses, is available at https://entomology.ca.uky.edu/ef449. 

Contact: 

Jonathan Larson, jonathan.larson@uky.edu; Holly Wiemers, holly.wiemers@uky.edu