Livestock IPM

Welcome to the Livestock IPM Page

2012 Beef Management Calendar Now Available WSU Extension has released the Beef Management Calendar for 2012. This customizable, month-at-a-glance calendar comes with instructions on how to set up a useful reference for your cattle production operation, including economic, feeding, breeding, calving, herd health, and other management concerns.
		Animal Ag Team Newsletter Features Horn Fly Article The Summer 2010 WSU Animal Agriculture Extension Newsletter features an article by Dr. Holly Ferguson entitled A New Way of Looking at Horn Fly Control, in which she discusses horn flies and face flies, utilization of digital photography in assessing fly counts, and methods of fly control.
WSU/USDA Risk Management Agency Cattle Partnership Concludes A four-year partnership between WSU researchers and the Federal Crop Insurance Corporation's Risk Management Agency has concluded. The project laid the fuondation for a science-based IPM program for Pacific Northwest rangeland cattle, including research into beef measles, rotational grazing, pesticide impacts on beneficial fauna, a novel fly control system involving pesticide-impregnated netting, and two entirely new research methods for tracking flies. The project is summarized in this May 2010 report.
		Techno-Cow: More than One Way to Count Flies! Dr. Holly Ferguson discusses the importance of fly counts in determining thresholds for IPM in livestock and introduces a more accurate, labor-saving counting technique under development. This technique uses digital photography and a grid pattern. The seminar, A Thousand Points of Flies, was presented December 2008.
Rotational Grazing -- Effective or No? Mark/Recapture Studies of Dung Fauna from Cow Pats, presented by Dr. George Peck in November 2008, shows deployment of our immunomarking technique to track movement of horn and face flies toward an understanding of the impacts of rotational grazing on pest management.
		To Catch a Fly Dr. George Peck's poster, Mark/Recapture Studies of Musca autumnalis, presented at the 56th Annual Entomological Society of America's Meeting in Reno, Nevada, in November 2008 shows how we track movement of flies with an immunomarking technique.
Black Flies on the Rise? Find out by reading Dr. Holly Ferguson's Black Flies on the Rise article in the Summer 2008 edition of the Washington Animal Agriculture Team's Round-up newsletter.
		Fly Survey Powerpoint Dr. Holly Ferguson presented this Powerpoint presentation, Dipteran Diversity and Seasonal Abundance of Pest Diptera in Washington State Cattle Pastures, 2006-2007, on June 17, 2008 at the Livestock Insect Workers Conference in Kansas City, MO.
Poster Highlights Expanding Partnerships in Cattle Research This poster, presented March 2008, describes the partnership between Washington State University, the USDA FCIC Risk Management Agency, and the CSREES Pest Management Alternatives Program (PMAP). The RMA work is well underway, and the PMAP work has enabled our team to expand into new research arenas. To view a miniature version of this poster, click here or on the image at left.
Summer 2007 Edition of WSU Livestock Round-Up The Summer 2007 issue of the Washington Animal Agriculture Team and Washington State University Extension's newsletter is still available on-line, including an exposé on the secret lives of dung pats and the ecosystems therein, "Bessie, What Have You Dung for Me Lately?" At right: field researchers floating beetles out of dung pats; field researcher examining dung in-situ.
		Progress on Cattle Pest Work Presented at 2007 LIWC Conference The first year of a three-year partnership between Washington State University and the USDA FCIC Risk Management Agency is presented in this engaging poster. The poster highlights the accomplishments of various team members and explains the pest management work completed so far. To view a miniature version of this poster, click here or on the image at left.
Spring Edition of WSU Livestock Round-Up The Washington Animal Agriculture Team and Washington State University Extension have released their May 2007 Newsletter. Articles include discussion of horn fly and face fly on cattle, recognizing and treating colic in horses, identifying and eradicating scrapie in sheep and goats, and three pasture management articles (controlled grazing, grazing for weed control, and the merits of grazing stock on forage kochia).
	New Extension Bulletin Surveys Pest Management Practices Our research team conducted a survey of Washington State beef cattle producers in the fall and winter of 2005/2006 to assess cattle pest prevalence and pest control product use and effectiveness. The resulting data were analyzed and are presented in Washington State University Extension Bulletin EB2017E, Survey to Assess Parasite and Fly Control Methods Utilized by Washington Beef Cattle Producers.* The document is available free of charge as a PDF download. It includes a brief overview of the state’s beef cattle industry. describes the major internal and external parasites/pests, and summarizes the results of our survey. The data will serve as a foundation toward addressing increasing concerns among cattle producers about inefficient and unsustainable pest management practices.

Survey Poster Presented at Livestock Insect Workers Conference
In June 2006, our team presented preliminary results of our cattle producer survey at the national Livestock Insect Workers' Conference in Amarillo, Texas. View a miniature version of this poster by clicking here or on the poster image at right. These survey results are summarized in the 16-page Extension Bulletin publication above.

Newsletter Articles
The cover story in the July 2006 edition of the Central Washington Animal Agriculture Team's Central Washington Round-Up newsletter (pictured top left) was Dr. Holly Ferguson's announcement of the completion of the cattle pest management survey* described in the above poster and Extension Bulletin. In the April 2006 edition of the newsletter (pictured below left), Dr. Ferguson discusses safer feed-through methods for fly control* are discussed in an article by Dr. Holly Ferguson on p. 3 of the April 2006 edition of the Central Washington Animal Agriculture Team's Central Washington Round-Up newsletter. You can also access the newsletter as well as other information about animal agriculture in Washington on the team's home page.

A 3-Year Research Project began in 2006 to reduce risk in rangeland beef cattle production. This poster explains the basic parameters of the research and outlines the deliverables planned by the IPM Livestock Team in charge of the project. Directed by Dr. Doug Walsh, the research now underway will address internal and external pests identified as most economically important by Washington State rangeland beef producers. This project is funded by and conducted in partnership with the USDA Federal Crop Insurance Corporation's Risk Management Agency.

(*You will need Adobe Acrobat Reader or another Adobe Acrobat product to view these files. You can download Acrobat Reader free at http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2_allversions.html . If you have any trouble accesing these files, contact Sally O'Neal Coates, 509-372-7378.)

Contact us: Doug Walsh 509-786-9287, Holly Ferguson 509-786-9233, Carrie Foss 253-445-4577
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