# Help! Bugs in the grain!



## Dana (Dec 7, 2009)

I found little tiny bugs in my grain this morning, after I fed 3 goats! Yuck!!!! What should I do with my 80 pounds of oats that is in my plastic garbage can? I had kept it covered and never had a problem before! Oh, I'm so mad and overwhelmed!!!

Do I need to worm my goats that ate the grain...am I being over-sensitive? 

Bomb the barn with bug powder??


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## Ashley (Oct 25, 2007)

What kind of bugs and how many? A few here and there are no big deal but if there are a lot, I won't feed them. Just take it back to the feed store unless it's been sitting a while in your barn.


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## Dana (Dec 7, 2009)

It's more than just a few. A scoop of grain in the feed bin and I see them crawling around. I'm growing in my panic. My daughter just bought 2 peacock, and I just bought a milker 2 days ago. Are they from them? How did it get into the grain bin? Ahhhhhhhhhh!

The bugs are long, black and have a hard shell. At first I thought they were baby spiders until I looked closer and killed one.


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## [email protected] (Sep 18, 2008)

If it were just a few bugs, I would sprinkle some DE into it. With alot, I would feed it to the chickens and sprinkle DE into any new incoming grain.


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## doublebowgoats (Mar 6, 2008)

I would also feed it to the birds. Can you find out what kid of bugs they are? It doesn't sound like the weevils that I have dealt with (even house food can get those). Try getting some of those very heavy duty black rubber "trash cans" from Tractor Supply or somewhere like that. They are specifically for feed and have a tight fitting lid.


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## buckrun (Mar 7, 2008)

Most insects that show up in feed are from eggs that are on the grains and plant products before harvest.
It is not so much that they 'get into' the feed. 
Plant insects have nothing to do with goat parasites.
Insects that eat plants and lay eggs on them do not live inside animals but are digested.
You eat lots of bug parts daily if you eat any plant material.
Lee


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## Ashley (Oct 25, 2007)

My understanding is weevils can carry tapes, at least as far as birds are concerned. I don't know if they are a different kind?


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## Dana (Dec 7, 2009)

I put DE in the plastic garbage can on top of all the grain. I'm still trying to determine how they got in there. I have 2 bags of grain not opened sitting next to the garbage can. I'm afraid to know if they're in there also. I sprinkled DE around the floor and around the bags and the can.

I hope my goats will eat the grain with all the DE and hopefully dead bugs. Otherwise it's chicken feed.


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## NubianSoaps.com (Oct 26, 2007)

Might want to look up the life cycle of weevils if that is what they are....here it is from moisture usually from molasses sweet feeds. There are feed stores infested with weevils. My feed store used to be awful about this when I first started using them, he is so much better about this now, I haven't had a bad bag in years.

I would say you got some very old feed. Vicki


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## buckrun (Mar 7, 2008)

If you get fresh whole grain that does not have active adults you can add bay leaves to the storage container and it will retard or prevent eggs from hatching. If you do not have bay in your area you can order bags of whole leaves very cheaply from herb suppliers. We have a potted bay tree that we harvest for use in our organic whole grains for baking and cooking because all grain products come with insect eggs. It works great.

Lee


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## Ashley (Oct 25, 2007)

Another thing, whole grains don't get infested as readily. The bugs prefer pellets, meals, powders etc. It's all open and easier to eat.


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## MF-Alpines (Mar 29, 2010)

buckrun said:


> If you get fresh whole grain that does not have active adults you can add bay leaves to the storage container and it will retard or prevent eggs from hatching. If you do not have bay in your area you can order bags of whole leaves very cheaply from herb suppliers. We have a potted bay tree that we harvest for use in our organic whole grains for baking and cooking because all grain products come with insect eggs. It works great.
> 
> Lee


A bit of trivia.........Being from Massachusetts, the Bay State, it is illegal (in Massachusetts) to harvest bay leaves. Comes from Mountain Laurel. Lots of Mountain Laurel festivals there. Just can't harvest the leaves, even if you plant your own Mountain Laurel (like someone would know).

Do dry leaves from the grocery store work, Lee?


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## fmg (Jul 4, 2011)

Mountain Laurel is poisonous. Bay leaves look like mountain laurel, but are not from the same plant. I saw that post on the mountain laurel thing, and remembered it being poisonous, so I had to look it up. Bay leaves come from the laurel family, but are from the bay laurel plant.


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## Dana (Dec 7, 2009)

Good news! No- the bugs are not gone, but I went to the mill to pick up some chicken feed and asked them about the bugs in my grain and they gave me replacement bags of grain- no questions asked! 

So now I have almost 200 lb of bug-infested-oats to give to the chickens. And new oats for the goats!


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## doublebowgoats (Mar 6, 2008)

Sounds like a great deal!


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## Anita Martin (Dec 26, 2007)

I have occasionally had bugs show up in my grain. Usually they are on the outside of the bag. Got some this week. Unless it's a lot, I try to overlook it. If it's a lot, it gets fed to the chickens. I have taken a couple bags back to the feed store and they did give me replacement bags. That's the nature of grains. I keep my flour in the freezer for just that reason. It keeps the things from hatching out and grossing me out!


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