Another pest to be on the lookout for is armyworm in barley and oats. Armyworm causes the most damage close to harvest, as the drying seed heads can be lopped off at the base, resulting in yield losses. Monitoring your crops closely will be the best way to determine if armyworms are reaching threshold numbers and if a spray will be required. During this month you will see the remaining canola crops being windrowed for harvest, and the start of harvest for our barley.

As we approach harvest it is a good idea to begin thinking about grain storage options. Are your silos clean and ready? Silo hygiene inside and out is critical to help prevent storage pests. Will you need grain treatments to protect grain? Treating grain on the way into silos is much more effective than treating via fumigation at a later date. Fumigation has a reduced effectiveness in unsealed silos and can contribute to phosphine resistance due to the inability of confining the chemical for the correct period of time. Weaner lambs will require drenching, but ensuring they are going onto worm free paddocks will aid in controlling worm burdens. Paddocks ideally should be free of sheep worm eggs for three to six months prior to weaning. Using cattle to graze potential weaner paddocks or spelling from livestock altogether can be a ways of ensuring lambs have the best chance of staying worm free.