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Cockchafers Chomping Through Your Pasture?

"Now that the autumn rains have arrived, it’s worth watching out for the appearance of large bare areas of your pasture," says Frank Mickan, Pasture and Fodder Conservation Specialist.

By Department of Primary Industries - 5th May 2004 - Back to News

"The culprits are likely to be the Blackheaded Cockchafer Grubs – or rather their larvae!"

Cockchafers generally become active after the initial autumn rains. Another culprit, although pasture damage may not be so obvious initially, are their cousins the Redheaded Cockchafers.

How can you tell if you are also feeding these little pasture stealers along with your animals? Look for three tell tale signs:

• Blackheaded cockchafer activity results in small mounds of dirt surrounding little tunnels on the ground surface. They feed at night and in heavily infested areas, leaves may be sticking out of the tunnel.
• Any areas where your sub clover and ryegrass have germinated, but are now bare.
• Freshly moved soil due to birds digging up larvae. The cockchafers can also eat cow dung.

To check for cockchafers, try digging in the soil near where the bared areas join the unaffected pastures. If you repeatedly find two or more grubs per spadeful of soil, then spraying is recommended, particularly if large areas of pastures are being bared out.

Dig in several positions and paddocks. Don’t wait for large areas of dead pasture to show up before instigating a control. Be also aware that even though you may not have had a cockchafer problem last year, this does not mean that you won’t have it this year.

So what do they look like? The Blackheaded Pasture Cockchafer Grub is creamy grey in colour with a black head. The other cockchafer grubs often have similar colouring on their bodies but will have yellow or red heads.

The grub lives in the soil in this form until the early autumn rains soften the ground and encourages pasture growth. Over autumn and early winter they grow through three life stages (instars) and continue to consume pastures. Their bodies become creamier in colour (body fat) towards the end of the third stage.

They tunnel about 150 millimetres into the ground before they transform into beetles (brown and black shading) and can fly long distances in summer to lay their eggs. These are often those beetles you find flying into your windows in late January or February.

The grub comes to the surface, in response to rains and heavy dews, to feed on the pasture overnight. They then munch on it in their tunnels throughout the day.

Several chemicals are registered for the control of the blackheaded cockchafer grub and have varying withholding periods. Contact your local chemical supplier and please read the entire label, since many changes have occurred over recent years concerning the instructions and warnings of various chemicals. This means there may be legal implications for you.

The ideal time to spray is just prior to rain or dew is expected, but the pasture must have enough time to dry out to prevent the spray being washed off the plants. Predicting the next shower can be difficult so the next best option is to spray soon after rain, once again, making sure the chemical does not run off the foliage. Applying chemicals in July/August will be too late because they will be further advanced in their lifecycle, and will have stopped feeding.

Large areas of bared out pasture may need oversowing once the grubs have been controlled. Alternatively, these areas may need to be oversown in spring, or the following autumn, to prevent flatweed, capeweed, etc, from claiming the bare ground.

GOOD NEIGHBOUR WILD DOG BAITING PROGRAM

The Department of Primary Industries in conjunction with the Department of Sustainability and Environment and Parks Victoria will commence its annual wild dog baiting program in early May. The area to be baited stretches from Licola in the west to the NSW border in the east.

Discussions have again been held through the Interstate Pest Animal Working Group to

coordinate wild dog management activities in SE New South Wales and Victoria.

Regional Wild Dog Coordinator for Gippsland, Vaughn Kingston, said the link with New South Wales agencies provides a definite advantage in wild dog management as it enhances our resource base and provides links to research and development opportunities on both sides of the border.

Meetings will be held prior to the baiting program to provide communities with the opportunity to participate in the planning and operational components of the program. Last year landholders contributed 60 days towards the baiting program across Gippsland.

Source: http://gippsland.com/

Published by: news@gippsland.com

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