[Pollinator] Bees produce tremendous hay harvest in Montana

[Jennifer Tsang]

Thanks to Laurie Davies Adams for forwarding the below article. Also
available at
http://www.theprairiestar.com/news/crop/bees-produce-tremendous-hay-harvest-
in-montana/article_73e41a02-1f53-11e0-82cf-001cc4c002e0.html 


 


Bees produce tremendous hay harvest in Montana 


 
<http://www.theprairiestar.com/news/crop/bees-produce-tremendous-hay-harvest
-in-montana/article_73e41a02-1f53-11e0-82cf-001cc4c002e0.html?mode=image&pho
to=1> 

Posted: Thursday, January 13, 2011 2:13 pm | Updated: 9:46 am, Fri Jan 14,
2011. 

By TERRI ADAMS, The Prairie Star

This year a tremendous hay harvest has filled feed yards with more hay than
usual. Livestock producers often attribute the lush hay crop to the
abundance of rain, but they forget that bees also made those hay bales
possible.

Bees pollinate alfalfa fields across the west and, in order to keep up with
the blossoming plants, the tiny pollinators worked long and hard this
summer.

Though 2010 harvest yields are not yet finalized, last year Montana hives
produced over 10 million pounds of honey and ranked fourth nationally in
honey production.

Yet, according to the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) in
Montana, farm and ranch lands that support bees are disappearing across the
U.S. at the alarming rate of 3,000 acres a day. Furthermore, some farming
practices make it more difficult for bees to pollinate the crops.

The NRCS reports that managed honey bee colonies have shrunk by 25 percent
since 1990, and there are fewer bee hives in the United States than at any
time in the past 50 years. Habitat loss, excessive exposure to chemicals,
the spread of diseases, parasitic mites, and the invasion of African honey
bees are commonly cited as the causes of what has been called an impending
pollination crisis.

Most producers, however, don't pay much attention to the tiny bees unless
they are stung by one while working, but pollinators play a vital role in
agriculture.

"Bees are important to everyone and not just for the honey. They pollinate
30 percent of all that we eat and directly affect the meat and dairy
market," said Bill Dahle, who owns Big Sky Honey in Fairview, Mont., and has
been in the honey business for 30 year.

Because of their role, every bale of alfalfa or clover hay exists because
bees pollinated the blossoms. Legumes, which are growing as a rotation crop
in Montana, also need the industrious insect. Properly pollinated fields are
healthy and productive. Thin fields may not need more chemicals. They may
need more bees.

According to the NRCS, there are things producers can do to ensure their
fields will attract bees for optimum harvests.

Don't disturb bee nests found in pastures, dead wood or near fields.

If possible, plant pollinator friendly crops such as clovers, alfalfa,
trefoils, and other legumes. Not only do they enrich and protect the soil,
but they are pollinator favorites.

Use conservation buffers. When planting hedge rows, windbreaks and other
buffer zones, consider using plants attractive to pollinators. The NRCS
offers several programs to provide prime habitat for pollinators through
contour strips, grassed waterways, hedgerows, stream buffers, filter strips,
and windbreaks. These plantings can also be located within the field that
needs the services of pollinators.

Let plants bloom. Try to time mowing, tilling, or grazing management
decisions so that plants have the opportunity to bloom. While alfalfa hays
may be optimum at the onset of bloom, consider leaving a strip or two in
full bloom to keep bees working the fields.

Read pesticide labels. They will list bee toxicity and residual time.

More than 75 percent of the crop plants that feed the world, and many
plant-derived medicines, rely on pollination by insects or other animals for
healthy fruit development

The NRCS conservation programs can help farmers and ranchers increase the
number of pollinators on their lands by reducing direct exposure of
pollinators to pesticides. They also help producers protect critical nesting
sites and food sources for beneficial insects and pollinators and restore
pollinator friendly practices at the farm. Furthermore, NRCS programs can
also help farmers implement reduced tillage practices. That is important
since many native bees live in the soil.

Opening fields to commercial beekeepers will also promote healthy crops and
may result in some free jars of home-grown honey at the end of the season.

So, as producers open those nutritious green bales of hay this winter to
feed their cattle and horses, they can thank the bees of summer who through
an extraordinary season right along side the producers.

The Pollinator Partnership and the North American Pollinator Protection
Campaign and its partners, NRCS, the USDA Forest Service, the Bureau of Land
Management, and the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, have a free
24-page booklet that will help producers understand how to work with
pollinators on their farm or ranch. It is can be downloaded at
http://www.pollinator.org/. <http://www.pollinator.org/> 

Posted in Crop <http://www.theprairiestar.com/news/crop>  on Thursday,
January 13, 2011 2:13 pm. Updated: 9:46 am. | Tags: Bees
<http://www.theprairiestar.com/topic/?q=bees&t=&l=25&d=&d1=&d2=&f=html&s=&sd
=desc&s=start_time> , Big
<http://www.theprairiestar.com/topic/?q=big%20sky%20honey&t=&l=25&d=&d1=&d2=
&f=html&s=&sd=desc&s=start_time>  Sky Honey

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.sonic.net/pipermail/pollinator/attachments/20110114/71ae15c6/attachment-0001.html>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: not available
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 30312 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://lists.sonic.net/pipermail/pollinator/attachments/20110114/71ae15c6/attachment-0001.jpe>