Grasshoppers Munching Early in South Dakota

HOT SPRINGS, S.D. (AP) _ Ranchers have enough to worry about as drought stunts growth in their pastures, without having to deal with a new threat: an early season grasshopper that's eating new grass on rangeland west of Hot Springs.

Mark Fanning, a Fall River County Extension agronomy teacher, said the band-wing grasshopper began showing up in large numbers in Minnekahta Valley last year.

Sometimes called Haldeman's grasshopper, it is not the hopper commonly seen in South Dakota later in the season. It can withstand winter weather _ and can even survive being frozen solid, Fanning said.

The nymphs from last year's eggs have become grasshoppers and are already eating the new growth, he said.

"This particular type eats primarily range grasses. They are a problem because they eat what little grass we've got going,'' Fanning said.

Fall River County, one of the areas hit hardest by drought last year, has received little moisture this year. Though grass in the area has begun greening, it is short, Fanning said.

The Haldeman's hoppers won't help the ranchers' situation.

"For every bit of grass that these hoppers eat, that's just more that these guys are going to have to buy down the road,'' Fanning said, adding that there are insecticides available to kill the insects.

U.S. Department of Agriculture experts from Pierre have already examined the area, finding about 5 hoppers per square yard, according to Fanning. The hoppers aren't thick enough to qualify for federal money to control them, he said.

In contrast, the Fort Thompson area near the Missouri River has about 60 Haldeman's hoppers per square yard, Fanning said. The hoppers are also showing up in large numbers in Hughes County, according to a USDA official in Fort Collins, Colo.

Although the grasshoppers aren't really rare, they don't typically show up in such large numbers, according to the USDA.

Fanning said the early hoppers wouldn't expand any more this year, but they can stay around for several years after they get established. They typically disappear about mid-June after laying their eggs.

Haldeman's grasshoppers apparently are found elsewhere in western South Dakota, including Pennington, Lawrence, Butte and Harding counties.

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