EPA Comment Period, 5 CEU Event, Weed control, Mosquitos

Howdy,

I'd like to share this release I received regarding the EPA comment period open for pyrethroid insecticide use. This is something that could have a significant impact on us depending on which way it goes. Please check it out below.

Comments due by Jan. 30 at 11:59 p.m. ET

ALL pyrethroid insecticides (bifenthrin, Warrior/Karate, Mustang Max, Baythroid, Asana, Permethrin, etc.) are currently undergoing registration review at EPA. Nine are specifically being evaluated, but serve as surrogates for all 19 active ingredients.

The preliminary evaluation shows that all pyrethroids exceed “Levels of Concern” for exposure to aquatic invertebrates. THIS IS MAJOR. If LOCs are exceeded, the exposure must be mitigated. This can be done in a variety of ways, but generally means loss of uses, reduced rates, reduced number of applications, or other use restrictions.

The current deadline is Jan. 30 at 11:59 p.m. (ET). EPA particularly needs to know why and specifically how producers use pyrethroid insecticides.

Your comments should include:

·        Who you are and why you are commenting (grower, consultant, etc.; acres grown and other pertinent information as to your qualifications).
·      
·        Why pyrethroids are important to you (why you use them over other products; why alternatives are not adequate or preferred; etc.)
·      
·        YOUR USE PATTERNS (be very specific if at all possible): For EACH crop (and possibly season) indicate which pyrethroid(s) you use, the pest(s) targeted, the use rate, number of applications, re-treatment interval, and preharvest interval (particularly if a short PHI is necessary).
·      
·        The general importance of pyrethroids is important (about the only broad spectrum products we have left), but the specific use information is needed to adjust the exposure estimates.
·      
To comment, click on the following link:
https://www.regulations.gov/document?D=EPA-HQ-OPP-2010-0480-0019 (Regulations.gov webpage); the summary does not mention pyrethoids, but this is the place (pyrethroids are in the table at the bottom of this document); click the “Comment Now!” button on the upper right of page and follow the instruction.

A user friendly option is the Pyrethroid Working Group site:|
Go to https://www.votervoice.net/PWG/campaigns/48706/respond  and follow their instructions. This site includes a template and suggestions for the information submitted.

It is a very good idea to compose and review your comments in a WORD document (or other program) before submitting them to EPA.

-Copied from Growing Georgia-


5-CEU Pesticide and CCA Recertification Program offered in Wharton County

By Corrie Bowen
County Extension Agent
Wharton County

The Wharton County office of Texas A&M AgriLife Extension is proud to announce an opportunity for pesticide license holders to earn five continued education credits (CEUs) toward their TDA pesticide applicators license.   The Wharton County Office of Texas A&M AgriLife Extension will hold their annual 5-CEU program on Thursday, February 2, 2017 at the Wharton County Fairgrounds – Crescent Hall in Crescent, TX.  Registration begins at 8:00 a.m.  Program begins at 9:00 a.m.   2-IPM, 2-Laws and Regulations, and 1-General CEUs will be offered.  Five CCA credits will be awarded to Certified Crop Advisors.   Guest speakers at this year’s pesticide recertification conference include:  Dr. Don Renchie with a  TDA Laws and Regulations Update; Mr. Rob Brooks, Dow AgroSciences will speak on Herbicide Application Methods and Modes of Action; Mr. Greg Baker, TDA Pesticide Inspector will address the  Worker Protection Standard law;  Mr. Peter Woods, Extension Program Specialist will address Aquatic Plant Management; and Dr. Megan Clayton will speak on controlling huisache, flatsedge, macartney rose, and other weeds.  Cost is $35.00 payable to the Wharton County Row Crops Committee.  A lunch is included.  Please register by January 31, 2017 through the AgriLife Extension Wharton County Office at 979-532-3310, or download a flyer and registration form online at http://wharton.agrilife.org

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The rain lately has been good for the ground, and I know many of you are gearing up for this years crop season. Dr. Mcginty shared a couple of weed control guides that may come in handy soon. They cover a number of herbicides and when to use them. For the cotton guide, go to this website, for the sorghum guide, check out this one. The corn weed guide is currently under construction, but many of the same burndown herbicides in cotton can be used in both corn and sorghum (like Roundup, Gramoxon, Liberty, 2 4-D, Clarity, Valor, and Sharpen).

This week I also noticed mosquito larvae living in my dog's water dish and in the miniature lake in my backyard. Now is a good time to be thinking especially about the first "D" of the "4 Ds of Mosquito Prevention", which is to drain or dump any standing water if you can. I can't drain my mini lake, but I did put a mosquito dunk in there. Mosquito dunks are easy to find at a feed store or Walmart. They are an excellent option for larval mosquito control since they are non toxic to pets and fish. They use BTI, a bacteria toxic specifically to mosquito larvae. Check out this website for more do- it- yourself backyard mosquito management techniques.

As always, feel free to email me or give us a call if you have any questions or concerns.

Sincerely,

Kate

Feed Grain and Cotton Conference and Stored Grain Pest PPT

Howdy,

  This week we had the Rice conference and the Grain Handlers meeting. Dr. Robert Bowling and I gave a presentation at the Grain Handlers meeting, and I have the presentation available here. During that presentation we had a few copies of a publication on some of the main pests the USDA put together. You can access the publication here. We also talked about a dichotomous key available online, if you need access to that for insect identification, it can be found here.

 The Feed Grain and Cotton Conference will be held in Crescent hall of the Wharton County Fairgrounds on January 26. Registration will be at 8:30am and the program will start at 9:00. Check out the flyer below for more information.
 

  As always, let me know if you have any questions or concerns, and feel free to call or stop by our office.

Kate

Fever Ticks and Primary Screwworm

Howdy,

I recently received an email from our Veterinary/ Medical Extension Entomologist. She shared a news article on fever ticks and some information on the primary screwworm, both of which can be found below.

Primary screwworm was detected on a stray dog on January 6 on the mainland of Florida, near Homestead (south of Miami). All previous reports of this insect were limited to the Keys. Efforts on sterile male release programs and treatment on animals are currently under way to control this insect. It has been 40 years since screwworms were seen in full force in Texas, and it is vital everyone knows what to look for. Please check out this link with information on this insect.

Spread of fever tick spooks Texas cattle industry

Fever ticks are turning up farther north of the border, alarming inspectors

By Lynn Brezosky, San Antonio Express-News

January 14, 2017

The dreaded cattle fever tick, carrier of a blood disease that once nearly wiped out the U.S. cattle herd, has landed farther north in the Texas interior, worrying state and federal inspectors that the once-eradicated pest is no longer under control.

Texas animal health inspectors recently found new fever ticks Nov. 30 on a bull on a Live Oak County farm, about 110 miles north from the Mexico border where they were thought to have been permanently quarantined. Since then, the ticks have been found on seven neighboring premises, prompting the Texas Animal Health Commission to set up a temporary "Control Purpose Quarantine Area." It's the fourth such quarantine zone, following ones set up in Willacy, Kleberg and Jim Wells counties.

There are more than 450,000 acres in Texas under various types of fever tick quarantines that have been set outside of the permanent quarantine zone since the ticks started showing up farther inside U.S. territory in 2014. The most recent quarantine zone has grown by nearly 45,000 acres in the past six weeks as more fever ticks have been found, and now covers 57,541 acres.

Inspectors are using genetic tests and epidemiological investigations to try to pinpoint how the ticks ended up in Live Oak - from transporting animals from quarantine areas near the border or from wildlife such as white-tailed deer and nilgai antelope carrying them farther into Texas. The latter is the biggest concern, indicating that previously successful efforts to contain the ticks to the border region are failing.

The ticks are carriers for bovine babesiosis, a blood disease that in the 1800s wiped out much of the U.S. cattle herd and caused Kansas and other states to shun or restrict cattle from Texas.

In 1943, the ticks were declared eradicated from the U.S. save for a permanent quarantine zone along the Rio Grande established to control ticks that find their way across the river from Mexico. But during the past few years, the ticks have increasingly been found outside that zone, prompting expanded quarantine zones in border counties and temporary quarantine zones in three counties farther north.

"I don't want to jump to conclusions," Schwartz said of the possibility the ticks are migrating north on the backs of wildlife such as nilgai, a non-native antelope that's become a nuisance carrier of the tick. "The concerning thing is we haven't determined the source of those ticks yet."

While cattle owners in quarantine areas are required to round up, inspect and treat cattle for ticks, the Live Oak County discovery was unexpected. A veterinarian called to examine the sickly bull called a state livestock inspector to check some of the ticks he found on the animal's skin.

"That day she tentatively identified those as fever ticks, that's the day we sprang into action there," Schwartz said of the inspector.

The bull likely was anemic from all the ticks drawing his blood, Schwartz said, but did not suffer from babesiosis.

While babesiosis is still an issue for cattle south of the border, it has not shown up in U.S. cattle for decades, he said.

"I think it's a tribute to the success of the program to have kept the fever ticks, the hot fever ticks with babesiois, out of the country," Schwartz said. "We've had some fever tick incursions, but none of them have been carrying babebiosis."

As in other quarantine zones, cattle in the Live Oak area must be "dipped" in a treatment solution every 10 to 14 days or injected with a vaccine every 25 to 28 days, which in either case usually involves costly helicopter roundups that are stressful to cattle. Hunters also are required to call inspectors to check any harvested deer for the ticks.

Once hunting season is over, state and federal officials also plan to set up feeders full of deer corn treated with a poison that kills the ticks and is aimed at preventing them from spreading from the infested ranches. Nilgai, which aren't native to the U.S., have become particularly worrisome in South Texas as they travel long distances and can easily jump fences, but they are not believed to have strayed as far north as Live Oak County.

Ron Gill, head cattle extension specialist at Texas A&M University, said the Live Oak County discovery worried ranchers who thought that as long as they followed protocol the fever tick wouldn't spread.

"It periodically jumps out of the quarantine zone but not that far out," he said. "Normally it will be one of the adjacent counties and they'll fight it back into the quarantine zone. So I think the thing that's got everybody more vocal about it now is it jumped a little further than usual."

Coleman Locke, who runs cattle in affected areas in Kleberg and Willacy counties, fears the tick could once again threaten the entire Texas cattle industry.

"It concerns me as a cattleman," he said. "We've got to get it under control. … A lot of Texas cattle go to feed yards in Kansas and Nebraska to feed out. We need our Texas cattle to be able to go anywhere."

Upcoming Events and Rabies

Howdy and happy new year!

  We have several events coming up soon. The Western Rice Belt Conference and the Texas Rice Council Annual Meeting will be held on Wednesday, January 18 at the El Campo Civic Center.
  On Thursday, January 19, the Grain Handler's meeting will be going on at the El Campo Civic Center.
  Also on January 19, from 6 to 8 pm at Praseks Hillje Smokehouse in El Campo, Monsanto will have a training for growers interested in planting and spraying Roundup Ready Xtend cotton and soybeans. Chemical retailers will be sending out invitations to growers soon as well.
  The Feed Grain and Cotton Conference will be taking place on Thursday, January 26 at Crescent hall at the Wharton County Fairgrounds.
  On February 2, the 5 hour CEU event will be at the Wharton County Fairgrounds in Crescent hall as well.
  Please feel free to give us a call to RSVP or if you have any questions on these events. The flyers for each event are below.

  Also, please check out this excellently written article Mike Merchant put together about his experience with rabies here.