Ants in round bale after rain - Ideas?

[grayarabs]

After days of rain ants have set up house in the round bales.
Two bales - side by side - outside - on pallets - tarp covered.
The unopened bale is new/unwrapped.
The open bale almost finished.
The hay is pulled from the bales to give to the horses.

I have never seen this happen with round bales.
What now? Do the ants stay in the bale? Leave when ground is dry?
Bale must be discarded? TIA.

Hay is scarce and these have been nice bales.

[Tamara_in_TN]

are they fire ants?

[grayarabs]

I don’t know. I kind of assume they are. I guess that makes a difference behavior-wise? ie will they leave?

BM told us not to use the hay because of the ants. The unwrapped bale looked “quiet” enough. Then BM punched the side a few times and out they came.

I have only had one experience with ants in hay. Squares stacked in the barn. Reached in for a flake and got an armful of stinging ants. That hurt. IIRC the ants confined themselves to just that one square bale.
It was easy enough to discard. (I think…I wasn’t there).

I cannot imagine trying to discard a round bale full of ants.
Wouldn’t that be like chopping down a tree with a beehive in it?

[Tamara_in_TN]

fire ants are drawn to the old southern favorite of vienna sausages…I kid you not this is how they are tested for in quarantine areas

get some vienn-er and pour them next to the hay and wait

Tamara

[grayarabs]

That is interesting. So we put out some V sausages. If ants come out they are fire ants? If no ants - then not fire ants?

Either way - can the bale be salvaged?

I assume the ants were not in the hay when delivered? That would have been noticed - surely - when loading and unloading the bales by the BO?
(on and off his flat bed trailer).

Can one put the VS’s off the ground so the dogs and goats and assorted barn animals don’t eat the sausages - and not get a mouthful of possibly deadly ants?

If fire ants - I guess there are thousands of them in the bale? Begs the question - could they all be lured out and away from the bale - then death by sausage and some kind of non toxic ant killer?

I am thinking about this bale - and any future bales.

[Tamara_in_TN]

[QUOTE=grayarabs;6048302]
That is interesting. So we put out some V sausages. If ants come out they are fire ants? If no ants - then not fire ants?

correct

Either way - can the bale be salvaged?

no burn it and them in it

I assume the ants were not in the hay when delivered? That would have been noticed - surely - when loading and unloading the bales by the BO?
(on and off his flat bed trailer).

there is a national fire ant quarantine,infected hay cannot go N but clean hay and infected hay may go S…guess where all of TX falls ?? and no the bale cannot be tested visually only by sausages truly this is how they are tested at the TN border at Memphis this way…but yes the farmer who baled it knew sure enough…

our farm smack lays on the N/S line and as a result we are required to be a fire ant complaint facility:graded by surprise inspection at least every 60 days by the state (in our case TN)…plus a neat piece of paper for the wall if you don’t buy from a complaint facility you are just asking for it…

Can one put the VS’s off the ground so the dogs and goats and assorted barn animals don’t eat the sausages - and not get a mouthful of possibly deadly ants?

they are for bait and the ants don’t take long to come to it…you just really stand and wait.

If fire ants - I guess there are thousands of them in the bale? Begs the question - could they all be lured out and away from the bale - then death by sausage and some kind of non toxic ant killer?
I am thinking about this bale - and any future bales.

the bale is lost and any dirt area around them that is considered infected(as part of being a complaint facility you must store this on concrete) the sausage won’t kill them but a damn lit Bic and some diesel will fix them you will however have lost an expensive bale of hay…sorry:(

Tamara

[grayarabs]

Thanks Tamara. I did not mean to imply I thought the VS’s would directly kill the ants. I was imagining making a trail of them to lure the ants out - for destruction of them somehow. As if.

No one had any VS’s. The new bale had been unwrapped. No ants found the back side of bale - so think it must be OK to feed that part of the bale.

I put a slice of cheese on the bale and no ants appeared.

So don’t know. Perhaps not fire ants.

[Tkotx]

I have been getting fire ants in the area near and on my round bales recently. Its a real pain! Im in Texas west of Houston. I never saw anything like this before either. I thought it was a Texas thing. Guess not. And I’ve never heard of an “ant quarantine”. What is THAT about??.
As for my ant problem, i guess I’m going to continue using diatomaceous earth. It seems to help but must be reapplied after it rains (it’s been raining off and on for several days now