Nebraska Extension Scotts Bluff County

Cutworm numbers have been on the increase in western Nebraska over the past several years, and the damage they can cause to dry edible bean fields has bean growers and others in the industry concerned.

Luckily, it is not too difficult or too expensive to control cutworms. But effective control depends on applying insecticide at the right time. And knowing the right time is a matter of monitoring populations of cutworm moths, which lay the eggs that produce the cutworms.

A hands-on workshop scheduled for early March is designed to train people to identify cutworms from all the other moths, and show how to monitor populations. It is organized by UNL Extension Entomologist Jeff Bradshaw, based at the Panhandle Research and Extension Center in Scottsbluff.

Seven Nebraska 4-H members were among the top finishers in the National Western Stock Show Catch-A-Calf Contest completed recently in Denver.

The youth dedicated a year’s worth of effort to raise animals they caught at the 2018 stock show from calves to market steers. According to the National Western’s website, 4-Hers from Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska and Wyoming compete in National Western Stock Show’s (NWSS) longest running program of practical beef cattle management. In just over 80 years, the Catch-A-Calf Contest has awarded nearly 3,000 steers to 4-H members hailing from the western United States.