A very sweet season for Rosebud beekeepers

Laureen F. Guenther
Times Contributor

 

The honeybees of Rosebud produced a bumper crop of honey this year.
“The harvest was the best I’ve seen in almost 20 years,” e-mailed beekeeper John Moerschbacher, who reintroduced beekeeping in Rosebud when he moved to the area three years ago.
Yet early this summer, he said, it didn’t look like the harvest would be good at all.
“My expectations about the honey harvest back in June were not too optimistic,” he said. “We’d had very little snow last winter and hardly any rain in April and May. Without moisture, flowers will not (excrete) nectar to draw pollinators.”
Thankfully, that changed.
“The July showers came, and in August as well,” he said. “Days of rain interspersed with good 25-35 degree heat is the perfect recipe for good nectar flow.”
As a result, Moerschbacher wrote, all of Rosebud’s beekeepers – more than a dozen of them – had an excellent harvest this year.
Now, as we enjoy another warm fall, they hope to avoid a repeat of the kind of disaster Kelsey Krogman and Jordan Cutbill experienced last fall. They lost entire hives of previously-healthy bees in October, probably because a nearby field had been sprayed at mid-day, the time when bees feed. The bees likely died on the plants.
“Spraying is occurring now in the fields where canola is re-blooming,” Moerschbacher said. “Farmers will spray or (use) Round-Up in order to rid fields of volunteer vegetation that would use up nutrients needed for the coming year. Unfortunately, they are still doing this in mid-day when pollinators (i.e. honeybees) are most active on the blooms.”
He’s discussed these concerns with local farmers and a representative of the Canola Council, but says it may take time to spread the message.
“I have a feeling that most farmers don’t realize that pollinators are easily killed by spraying with anything,” he said, “not just with chemicals that are technically pesticides.”
He said many indigenous pollinators, like bumblebees and leafcutter bees, are even more affected by spraying than honeybees are.
Meanwhile, as a result of the bumper crop, all of Rosebud’s beekeepers – more than a dozen of them – have a good supply of honey available. For information about Rosebud honey, go to rosebudvalley.wordpress.com or e-mail Jordan Cutbill (jordancutbill@me.com).