WEEVILS!!!

[sweetsusie510]

So yesterday I went and picked up feed.  When I was unloading it from my suv, I noticed little weevils in the carpet where the bag had been.  Maybe less than 10.  But when I pured the feed out into my storage bins.  There were probably 1000 weevils in the feed.  What do I do?  Do I feed it to the goats anyway or throw it out?  I only bought one bag luckily.  But the feed store is about 45 minutes away.  And I only paid 9 dollars for the feed so I really don't want to drive all the way back out there for 9 dollars.  I was just wondering, is this a common problem?  Also what do I do about the feed?  I can go to a closer store and get some feed just not the kind that I normally get.

[Squires]

Bugs in the grain.  Good source of protein.   

Seriously, you want to take care of those bugs before they spread to other things.  This may be one of the few times when DE, diatomaceous earth, may be effective.  Dry environment (I assume) with bugs that could die if their bodies are scraped and they dry out.  Although I have not dealt with mass infestations of weevils myself.

Some people routinely put DE in their livestock's feed.  I think its main purpose is to kill off bugs and larvae in the grain in storage.  That's my theory.  Do you have any DE handy?  Can't hurt to stir it in.

At least call the store up and tell them that they have a weevil problem -- they should know.

I wonder if your chickens would help you clean up "the problem?"

I am a generalist -- you want a weevil specialist (one who actually has had weevils before) to assist you.
Is there a weevil specialist in the house?   

[Sondra]

I use DE for this very purpose.   Also  make sure you clean out your bin before adding new feed to it.
One of the feed stores a couple years ago had this problem and they put DE out all over that store in between bags etc.   Worked.

[kuwaha]

My last load of feed came with weevils too... someone had already written about the DE so I sprinkled some of that in the bottom, along the sides of the feed trash can  and a little on top and no more weevils

[doublebowgoats]

I would feed it to chickens but not the goats. Even if the weevils are dead I wouldn't want the goats to eat them.

[Squires]

But seriously, goats eat bugs all the time.  They eat caterpillars, flies, butterflies, worms, grasshoppers, beetles, slugs and bugs and larvae.  Most are harmless.  Some are not.   I don't think the weevils can do any harm, and they ARE a non-ruminant source of protein!   

[Cotton Eyed Does]

I carried some feed back to a feed store (not my regular store) that was close to where I worked several years ago and told them it was full of weevils.  He refused to give me a refund and told me I was lucky... he didn't charge any extra for the added protein.  I never went back to that guy's store.   I have fed weevil infested feed to the chickens but I haven't fed any to the goats or horses.

[Ashley]

I took it back when this happened to me. I wasn't happy. I didn't even get them out of the truck to get all in my barn. It started to rain (of course) and I stuck a piece of advantech on top of it in my truck. But they were swarming just on the bags. That's why I was irritated, I have a hard time believing those boys didn't see those when they loaded them. I don't hesitate to take back feed. And when I get hay from the feed store, I don't want a bottom bale, or really a side bale that was close to the wall. It's expensive hay, it should be good!

[Ashley]

I carried some feed back to a feed store (not my regular store) that was close to where I worked several years ago and told them it was full of weevils.  He refused to give me a refund and told me I was lucky... he didn't charge any extra for the added protein.  I never went back to that guy's store.   I have fed weevil infested feed to the chickens but I haven't fed any to the goats or horses.

I'd let him know that I talk a lot.

[Vicki McGaugh Tx Nubians]

It means the feed is old enough for the bugs to hatch, sorry but it's a feed stores job to send back old feed or feed it to their own stock, or discount the feed before bugs hatch.  IF it is an ongoing problem I won't buy from the feedstore.  I want fresh feed.  And the DE simply kills the bugs, so your goats are eating dead bugs out of OLD FEED   It's super important you aren't feeding old medicated feed, rumensin has a 30 day sell life.  So make sure you are feeding a medicated meat goat pellet that is popular in your area so you sacks aren't sitting for months waiting for you to buy all the bags.  I also quit feeding sweet feed because it is such a bug problem!  Vicki

[Bernice]

EEK...weevils?  UGH!  I'd be taking the feed back for sure and asking for a refund! 

[buckrun]

The most important consideration is that the larvae have been eating YOUR grain!!! Usually the germ of the grain which is the most nutritious part.  Here is the life cycle-

 Females lay up to several hundred eggs, which hatch in about 3 days. The four larval instars in each species take from 15 to 35 days to develop. Pupation takes from 5 to 16 days. Adults often live for 7-8 months, and may survive for 2 years. Under favorable conditions a generation may be completed in under 4 weeks, so there may be 12-13 generations a year.

Seeing the beetles means they raised young on the contents of the sack- old feed indeed!

 

[kuwaha]

I grew up in Zambia: first year missionaries find weevils throw out the flour!!! 2nd yr they sift them all out with multiple siftings. The 3rd yr they just sift out the majority, the 4th yr they just go ahead and eat it anyway. You know you're a real missionary when you start adding them to the pot

African proverb... Rich man says "there's worms in this guava!"
Hungry man: "let me see"  

At least we have the choice in america

[Ashley]

LOL Karen. I am bad about bugs in my grain. I always seem to be the one that gets the brown rice bit with a head on it or a beetle in my oats.    A couple years ago I had a streak of it and I was checking and double checking every time I had a bowl of rice or cereal. Everyone thought it was SOOO funny when I would go running to the sink or trash.

[buckrun]

I would like to see a comparison of the protein in the insect versus the resources they consumed. And are insect parts digestible for ruminants?  I think they are mostly chitin which maybe chickens can do but goats.... I still think they are robbing you of what you think you are buying but Karen you sound like my dad- awww it's just a little extra protein.  

My husbands grandparents had an old time grocery store when everyone traveled by mule wagon and horse here on dirt tracks and everyone liked his gram so much because she would sift out the weevils before weighing out the flour.   omg...

Bay leaves work great in grain.  If you have to store grain for people or animals a few bay leaves in the container emit some thing that does not let the eggs hatch.  The eggs are there particularly in organic products but if you prevent hatching and suffer no insect damage maybe THERE is your extra protein

[Squires]

I know this probably sounds old-fashioned, but, used to be that EVERYBODY used a flour-sifter when they did any baking at all -- not just to get the lumps out of extra-fine cake flour!  All my grands and great-grands used a sifter.  If you didn't, you might be embarrassed by a bug in your bread or cake!   

There is a book "Nourishing Traditions" by Sally Fallon (and someone else -- a co-author) -- it is a cookbook and a source book for serious information on nutrition and on how to cook real food --  and why to cook it that way.  Things like how to make less gassy beans, how to get all the nutrition our of your grains (people used to soak all their cooking grains overnight in water or yogurt or acidified water before cooking -- not just for feeding the pigs!).   How to make the most nutritious and scrumptious gravy out of cooked-down gristle (use cheaper cuts of meat and be healthier).  What to do with organ meats . . .

 

One of the ideas they discuss is that old-time vegetarians and those living under less-finicky conditions get a lot of their B-vitamins and essential enzymes and stuff from the dead bugs found in grains and legumes.  Now that everything is screened and filtered and nuked before packaging, you don't get as much nutrition in your vegetarian organic grains and beans.   Seriously!  Modern vegetarians get sick and malnourished where old-time vegetarians just went along eating their coarse breads and bean-and-herb stews and not being too finicky.

So, if you can get better feed for your animals, fine.  BUT, if you can't, the bugs are full of protein and B-vitamins and your goats might like them.   

[buckrun]

I have to take issue with the modern vegetarian statement.  
 Bugs do NOT make the difference.  Information does.
Study and learning and keeping track of what you eat helps.
I don't know any sick vegetarians.
 And I think that is an unsubstantiated extrapolation to say bugs in the food make the difference.
And I would like to add-
I believe one thing you are seeing in the modern vegetarian is the fact that people think they can be vegetarians on prepared foods.  Cutesy little commercial constructs that mimic meat or are 'organic whole grain or all natural' but completely drenched in sugar and run through a dozen nutrition robbing processes to look like their unhealthy counterparts. 
Just as with any style of eating -starting with the raw ingredients is the best nutrition and most people will not devote the time to that.  Veg or otherwise.
Which is what the older veggies had to do because there was no industry focused on marketing to them.
So that may be part of the difference...certainly not bugs.

[carlidoe]

I'm glad this thread is here. I just opened up a sack of cracked corn and it is infested with weevils. Millions. I opened it up and they just poured out the top. They were all over me, the walls, the floor. I tossed the sack in a wheelbarrow and pushed it out to the road. I think I might go out and burn it. I HATE bugs..and I sure don't want them in my other feeds.

[LamanchaLover]

Millions!?! Ugh, that is kinda gross.

[carlidoe]

There were so many that I couldn't even see the corn...just weevils. The feed store I bought this from has a sign hanging up that says "Our feed may have weevils in it this time of year." This sign hangs up year round lol.