Canton, N.Y.; March 26, 2019.   Northern New York is a hotspot for Western bean cutworm (WBC) primarily a pest in field corn, but one that can also impact legume and dry bean crops. With a Northern New York Agricultural Development Program grant, the Cornell Cooperative Extension North Country Region Ag Team expanded the WBC Trapping Network farther into the Northern New York region. Traps were added at locations in Clinton and Essex counties in 2018.

Northern New York trapping sites reported 22 of the highest 25 WBC moth trap catches for the state in 2018.

A report on the expansion of the WBC Trapping Network in Northern New York is posted on the Northern New York Agricultural Development Program website at www.nnyagdev.org.

Data from the traps alerts growers to begin scouting their fields for the risk of WBC and corn ear damage by WBC larvae. Monitoring this pest facilitates early treatment intervention at lower levels of WBC and can help limit crop damage.

The WBC Trapping Network is a program of the New York State Integrated Pest Management Program. Pheremone traps are deployed to capture WBC moths in July and August. The trap catches are identified and counted to help indicate peak flight and fields at risk for WBC damage.

“Because trap counts can vary greatly over just a few miles’ distance, it was determined that placing more traps in Clinton and Essex counties was warranted,” says project leader Kitty O’Neil, Ph.D., a Cornell Cooperative Extension field crops and soils specialist.

“We saw differences from 470 moths in one trap to nearly 2,500, the highest for anywhere in the state, in another trap just 11 miles away one year. Western bean cutworm populations continue to increase in Northern New York, requiring close monitoring and future management of this insect pest to prevent yield and quality losses,” adds Michael E. Hunter, a Cornell Cooperative Extension field crops specialist.

Traps were deployed in 2018 in areas of dense corn production across Northern New York near Beekmantown, Champlain, Chazy, Ellenburg, Ellisburg, Moira, Mooers, North Lawrence, Peru, West Bangor, Westport, and Willsboro.

The traps will be deployed again in 2019. Growers can receive weekly e-bulletins from Extension and the NYSIPM Program.

Funding for the Northern New York Agricultural Development Program is supported by the New York State Senate and administered by the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets.

The Shields Lab at Cornell University has provided an overview of the “Biological Control of Alfalfa Snout Beetle (ASB): An Update after a Decade of Nematode Applications” plus info on the 2019 ASB and Corn Rootworm Biological Control Program: Nematode Cost and Rearing Opportunities.

Alfalfa snout beetle remains the key limiting factor to alfalfa standlife in the Northern NY region and frequently kills out entire stands or large portions of stands in a single year.

Since 2007, the Shields’ Lab has assisted NNY farmers in inoculating alfalfa fields using insect-attacking nematodes (bio-control nematodes) to suppress the spread of this insect with the long-term support of the Northern New York Agricultural Development Program (NNYADP)*.

Between 2007 and 2018, biocontrol nematodes have been applied to more than 20,000 acres on more than 120 farms. In 2018, a total of 2,800 acres were treated on 46 farms across Jefferson, Lewis, St Lawrence, Franklin, Clinton counties.

For 2019, the Shields’ Lab will continue to offer farmers the option to purchase bio-control nematodes or assist farmers interested in rearing their own nematodes on their own farm with their own labor. Click on the links above, for more information.

*Funding for the NNYADP is supported by the New York State Senate and administered by the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets.

March 5, 2019.  The Journal of Dairy Science, Champaign, IL, has published a report on research funded by the farmer-driven Northern New York Agricultural Development Program to evaluate two different post-milking treatments to assess the best method for reducing winter cold-related mastitis in dairy cows.

Kimberley M. Morrill, Ph.D., a regional dairy specialist with Cornell Cooperative Extension, conducted the study in January-February 2016 in collaboration with Cornell Quality Milk Production Services. The teat dip treatment trials were held with 331 Holstein milking cows in the dairy herd at the W.H. Miner Agricultural Research Institute in Chazy, N.Y.

The research suggests that use of a powdered teat dip increases the risk of subclinical mastitis compared to using a traditional iodine-based dip. While the evaluation revealed no difference in clinical mastitis between the treatments, the powdered treatment did significantly increase the risk of Staph and Strep infections.

The Journal of Dairy Science, now in its second century of publishing, is a peer-reviewed publication of the American Dairy Science Association, an international organization of educators, scientists, and industry representatives in more than 70 countries.

The Northern New York Agricultural Development Program is a farmer-driven research and technical assistance program funding projects that not only serve farms of all interests and sizes in the northern part of New York State, but benefit farms statewide and nationally. Funding for the Northern New York Agricultural Development Program is supported by the New York State Senate and administered by the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets.

Canton, N.Y.; February 26, 2019.  How does a reduction of 27 seconds add up to a gain of an important 15 minutes and more comfortable dairy cows?

Research funded by the farmer-driven Northern New York Agricultural Development Program and conducted by Quality Milk Production Services and Cornell Cooperative Extension showed nearly two dozen dairy farms just how.

Paul D. Virkler, D.V.M., a veterinarian with the Quality Milk Production Services Animal Health Diagnostic Center, Canton, N.Y., led the project that influenced a simple, but significant, change in the milking parlor settings on 23 farms milking cows two to three times a day in Clinton, Franklin, Jefferson, Lewis or St. Lawrence County.

The project demonstrated how adjusting the setting on the automatic cluster remover, or ACR, unit that controls when the milking unit detaches from the cow based on a decrease in milk flow reduces milking time with benefits to the farmer, the cows, and the farm business.

“In general terms, reducing the milking time per cow by approximately 27 seconds adds up to a gain of 15.8 minutes per milking shift. That 15 minutes could allow a producer to milk an extra turn of cows at each shift with no additional labor cost and no detrimental effects on milk production,” said Virkler.

From the cow’s perspective, taking the milking unit off more quickly by adjusting the ACR alleviates the potential for overmilking and related impact on teat tissue condition, thus making the cow more comfortable, reducing the risk of mastitis, and enhancing animal well-being.

For the farm business, Virkler noted that “Although milking time is significantly shorter, earlier research, and this trial, has shown there is no negative effect on or loss of milk yield.”

Following the main trial at Hillcrest Holsteins in Henderson, N.Y., the project team extended the research results to additional 22 farms, with a change in the ACR setting recommended to 20 of those farms. All twenty made the change with positive results.

“This research offered the opportunity to demonstrate a simple milking parlor adjustment that can be made to enhance how quickly, completely and gently milking can be accomplished,” Virkler said. “The farmers we worked with are now aware of this easy way to add to their best management practices.”

The complete report on Assessing Automatic Cluster Remover Settings on Milking Unit-On Time, Total Milk Yield, and Teat Condition in NNY Dairy Herds is posted under the Dairy Research tab of the Northern New York Agricultural Development Program website at www.nnyagdev.org.

Funding for the Northern New York Agricultural Development Program is supported by the New York State Senate and administered by the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets.

Quality Milk Production Services operates four regional diagnostic laboratories in New York State, including one in Northern New York at Canton, and is a part of the Animal Health Diagnostic Center at Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y.