Weekly Outlook - Pork Producers Ask, What Happened?

There is an old saying that, “Life is what actually happens when you’re planning on something else!” That adage is playing out for pork producers this spring. The spring hog price rally has not occurred and feed costs have now pushed to record high levels. This combination is resulting in a disappointing period of financial losses this spring and summer that was not anticipated earlier this year.

Hog prices normally shoot up in the spring. In fact, in the past 5 years, live hog prices rose by an average of about $11 per hundredweight from early April to mid-May. This year, prices struggled to hold on to their early April levels in the low $60s. The reasons for the lack of a spring rally are not totally clear. Perhaps there was too much anticipation of high spring and summer hog prices earlier in the year. June lean hog futures, for example, reached levels equivalent to about $76 per live hundredweight in late February. This was just before the “lean finely textured beef” issue hit the media waves that sent livestock futures prices down. The lowest cattle futures prices came on more bad news announcing a fourth BSE cow on April 24. Lean hog futures then bottomed about 10 days later.  <Read More>

Poison Hemlock - A Mini Review

Travis Legleiter and Bill Johnson – Purdue Extension Weed Science Specialists

We have received a couple of calls on poison hemlock this spring with concerns of its presence in the Indiana landscape. The appearance of poison hemlock on roadsides and fencerows of Indiana is not new, but the weed may be more prevalent this year as it came out of winter dormancy and has been rapidly growing since the unusually warm days of early March. I myself noticed it being one of the first plants to green up in the roadside ditches this winter as I traveled the state (Image 1). The presence of this weed is not new in Indiana as I can find articles in the Purdue weed science database back to 2003 on the subject of poison hemlock. The largest threat of this weed is the toxicity of it’s alkaloids if ingested by livestock or humans, but it can also be harmful to aesthetic values and has been reported to creep into no-till corn and soybean fields as well.

Image 1. Photo of a green and growing poison hemlock plant in a roadside ditch taken on March 7, 2012 in central Indiana.

Biology and Identification
Poison Hemlock is a biennual weed that exists as a low growing herb in the first year and bolts to three to eight feet tall in the second year and produces flowers and seed. It is often not noticed or identified as a problem until the bolting and reproductive stages of the second year. The alternate compound leaves are pinnate (finely divided several times) and are usually triangular in outline. Flowers are white and occur in an umbel inflorescence. Poison hemlock is often confused with wild carrot but can be distinguished by its lack of hairs and purple blotches that occur on the stems.

Toxic Properties
Poison hemlock contains five alkaloids that are toxic to humans and livestock if ingested and can be lethal. All parts of the plants contain the toxic alkaloids with levels being variable throughout the year. Symptoms of toxicity include nervousness, trembling, and loss of coordination followed by depression, coma, and/or death. Initial symptoms will occur within a few hours of ingestion.

Cases of poisoning due to poison hemlock ingestion are rare as the plants emit a mousy odor that makes it undesirable and unpalatable to livestock and humans. Consumption and toxicity in animals usually occurs in poorly managed or overgrazed pastures where animals are forced to graze poison hemlock.

Control
Control of poison hemlock with herbicide is most effective when applied to plants in the first year of growth or prior to bolting and flowering in the second year. The closer to reproductive stages, the less effective the herbicide. In roadside ditches, pastures, and waste areas, herbicides containing triclopyr (Remedy Ultra) or triclopyr plus 2,4-D (Crossbow) are most effective in controlling poison hemlock. Other herbicides that provide adequate control when applied at the proper timing are dicamba (Clarity, Banvel), metsulfuron-methyl (Cimarron, Escort XP), metsulfuron-methyl plus dicamba (Cimarron Max) and clopyralid plus 2,4-D (Curtail).

For information on control of poison hemlock in corn and soybean please refer to a previous Purdue Weed Science article: Poison Hemlock Control in Corn and Soybeans.

For further information on toxic plants in Indiana refer to the Purdue University Weed Science Guide to Toxic Plants in Forages

Prevalent Purple Plants Perennially Puzzle Producers

Like the swallows that return every year to San Juan Capistrano, it seems that purpling in young corn returns every year somewhere in Indiana. In recent days, I have received several reports of purpling from widely scattered areas of the state. While mildly attractive from an ornamental standpoint, landlords and tenants alike often become concerned when they see their fields take on a purplish hue that is clearly evident from the window of the pickup at 60 mph.

Biochemical Cause of Purpling. Purpling of corn plant tissue results from the formation of reddish-purple anthocyanin pigments that occur in the form of water-soluble cyanidin glucosides or pelargonidin glucosides (Kim, 1998). A hybrid’s genetic makeup greatly determines whether corn plants are able to produce anthocyanin. A hybrid may have none, one, or many genes that can trigger production of anthocyanin. That is the reason why purpling may appear in only one of two hybrids planted in the same field. Purpling can also appear in the silks, anthers and even coleoptile tips of a corn plant. <Read More> 

Black Cutworm Flocks to Indiana; Scouting Proves Critical

Record numbers of black cutworm moths have descended upon Indiana fields, and after a week of warm temperatures and rainfall now is a critical time to scout, a Purdue Extension entomologist says.

Pheromone trap cooperators throughout the state monitor for the insect's arrival, which has the potential to cause significant economic damage to field crops. A round of storms originating in southern states in March brought not only rain to Indiana, but cutworm populations not previously seen. Since that time additional captures have had the trappers very busy counting. 

According to John Obermeyer, the key to successfully controlling the insect is to scout early and often and to apply insecticides when larvae are small - especially because large larvae are difficult to control.  <Read More>