BEAUTIFUL BUGS

The cabbage white butterfly is a common insect found around cabbages, broccoli and cauliflower plants

This common grub is a juvenile stage of the pasture cockchafer beetle. It feeds on young roots within the soil.

A bee busy collecting pollen.

This rose bud is infested with aphids.

A colourful Monarch butterfly has been attracted to bright flower blossoms

A crusader bug sucking sap from a leaf

Damage to gum tree leaves due to small insects developing within the leaf tissues

A mole cricket is able to burrow into soil using its powerful front legs

A bush fly rests on rose petals

This bee is enjoying the senery

If you want to be content on your farm, get used to having bugs around at all times.

Bugs On Hobby Farm

No matter what the task at hand, you will be in the presence of insects, spiders, centipedes, mites and countless other arthropods, all living within an external skeleton. The most common bugs we are likely to be dealing with being the insects.

These mostly small and extremely tough living robots have been going about their business for some 300 million years and we are unlikely to stop them now. Luckily most bugs do not cause harm on the farm and play an important role as a food source for other animals.

Effective Pest Control

There will always be some pests about, and being able to minimize their damage rather than attempting the impossible task of complete extermination will save time, money and many headaches.

When confronted with a difficult insect pest, getting to know its intimate habits, life cycle and food requirements will go a long way towards a successful control strategy. Having a large range of insect species resident, as well as many birds will also lend towards natural control of pest numbers. At times biological agents and chemicals may be needed, but these can be selected from a growing range of less toxic and more specific products that will not enter the food chain or remain for a long time in the soil.

Interesting Insect Everyday

Each day an interesting insect is likely to appear. Some will be found in larger numbers according to the season, others appear more visible at a certain stage in their life cycles, such as brightly coloured caterpillars. Insects will generally be more abundant during the warmer months and of course when spring blossoms are in full bloom.

Most Abundant Types Of Insects

The most abundant types of insects includes the Beetles, Butterflies and Moths, Wasps, Bees and Ants-Flies, Gnats and Mosquitoes. They all have important roles to play in nature and unfortunately a small number can be deadly to humans as well as livestock. Most species go about their daily lives as individuals or in colonies attracting little attention. Their benefits to the farmer range from pollination of flowers to improving the soil to providing us with golden honey. They keep countless birds alive and since so many insects feed on other insects, the worst pest outbreaks are kept under control without human intervention.

Insect Species

There are over 700,000 insect species that are known and several thousand new ones are described each year, but even more species are thought to be awaiting classification.

With so many insects yet to be described and named, there is every chance that a little known bug lives on the farm. With a good eye for detail it can be located and named in your honour!