Birds can cause serious damage to fruit crops, including blueberries, blackberries, grapes, raspberries, and strawberries. Robins, starlings, finches, orioles, and cedar waxwings have been observed feeding in ripening fruit crops throughout the Midwest. Bird damage patterns can vary from year to year and can be localized, depending on the source. Birds can fly 10-15 miles from a resting site to feed. It can be difficult to stop birds from feeding once they start. They can establish their home territory in late April and May and remain until the crop ripens. Fruit crops near resting areas, wooded lots, and ponds are most vulnerable. Birds generally feed approximately 30 minutes before sunrise and generally conclude feeding about 30 minutes after sunset. In the home fruit plantings, bird netting, either plastic or rope (known as tobacco netting), can be highly effective in bird damage control. It is important to completely cover the plants so that the bird will not be able to reach the berries from underneath netting. Well placed nets can offer nearly 100% protection.
Author: Christopher Penrose
Ag and Livestock Field Day planned for August 3rd
Put up hay at right moisture
As I was writing this article Monday afternoon, it was just starting to sprinkle. I have only had around .3” of rain in three weeks. My pasture fields and lawn was starting to go dormant. I hope we finally received some rain. While we hadn’t received much rain, farmers have been challenged to get up hay because of the cloudy conditions. I had a call last week on when is hay ready to bale? Uncle Ermil taught me the “feel” test over 40 years ago and it has served me well, but there is really a science behind it. If you are making small square bales, the moisture content needs to be 20% or less; for round bales, 18% or less; and for large square bales, 16% or less.
What happens if we bale hay and the moisture content is too high? Bad things. If lucky, maybe the hay will only mold, but if it is too moist and starts heating, it could catch fire. If the hay heats to 100-120o, it will be fine; if it goes above that, monitor daily. Once it gets to 140o, consider tearing down the stack. At 150-160o, call the fire department, and once it gets to 160o, there will be smoldering pockets and hot spots, and gases will ignite hay when exposed to air (source: Washington State University Extension, Steve Fransen and Ned Zaugg). This has been a challenging few weeks trying to get up hay, let’s not making it worse by putting up hay too wet and burning things up.