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Beware the alfalfa weevil

An extension agent in northeastern Kansas says the alfalfa weevil continues to create additional challenges for hay production and farmers should be prepared.

David Hallauer with Kansas State University Extension says weevils lay eggs inside alfalfa stems in the spring or fall and once a weevil hatches, it eats the alfalfa.

“It’s a leaf feeder and so it goes to town on those plants as it grows up through harvest,” he says. “Cattle are also feeding on the plant almost all through the spring to some degree. Forage quality and quantity will decline.”

Hallauer says there are ways farmers can manage the pest.

“We’re mainly managing it from the standpoint of scouting in the spring and seeing if we are going to reach economic thresholds and then, applying an appropriate insecticide as needed.”

Brownfield interviewed Hallauer at the MU Crops Management Conference.