Ok I am a newbie to Texas. Just built a place here & have heard about blister beetles but didnt see any until yesterday....there were swarms of the striped ones in our barn. I'm from the North, so I'm not familiar with them at all. All I've heard about are horses dying from them. I dont have any other experience how to physically get rid on them on your property. I'm scared to turn our horses out for fear they are in our pastures (all we have is coastal grass) but I'm assuming everyone in Texas runs that chance with blister beetles & turning their horse out? I know about the alfalfa hay sources already, just dont know how to manage my stress about turning them out in the pasture ?? Any advice?

Are you 100% certain they are blister beetles? Can you post a pic by chance? Do you have any nearby neighbors to ask? When we lived in NM I swore I saw blister beetles in my alfalfa... I freaked out. I snapped a pic of one and showed it to a friend of mine who grows hay, he said it wasn't a blister beetle but just looked similar, my horses were safe

I'm not an expert by any means but that bettle looks exactly like the one I found near my hay and was told it wasnt a blister beetle. Hopefully you'll get more responses from more knowledgeable folks on here! 

I believe that is a blister beetle.  Unfortunately we've had first hand experience with them.  I remember two sick horses, not knowing why, and the vet looking through our alfalfa for signs and sure enough the striped wings of the blister beetle.  They don't all look alike (google it).   Blister beetles were never a problem until the use of swathers.  The insects are fed into the machine and crimped releasing the toxins (that's not my words of wisdom, that came from the vet).   We saved our two horses because we knew what had caused the sickness but many horses have died from blister beetle poisoning.  You might talk to your vet and see what he says about picking them up out of the grass (grazing).  I've never heard of this affecting them.  Nor are they a factor with prairie hay or brome.  They swarm in alfalfa which we don't feed anymore.

There is so many different types of blister beetles out there. You just got to be carefull, its hard to tell the bad from the good. This is one of the bad ones.. 

See if you have an agg extension in your area. They could

help identify or point you in a direction for an answer. 

So even if there isnt alfalfa around, being grown or stored theyll still swarm or be found in coastal fields? 

The op' s beetle doesnt have to orange/ reddish color on its head like in the photo of the bad bb. OP, do you have alfalfa in your barn? 

Go to Google and pull up images of blister beetles.  You'll see there are many varieties and one of them is the same as the picture shown by the OP.  This is what the vet found in our hay not the bad boy pictured above.

I have seen this beetle down here in South a Texas ( West of Corpus). Alfalfa isn’t grown down here at all. But a good friend woke up one morning with huge blisters all around his neck. A Blister bug had got him in the night. Every time he popped one of those blisters a terrible, painful sore was the result. But I am not sure what the big looked like that got him. But my husband knew the jug. Apparently out in the Freer Brush Country they are not unusual. 

We did have alfalfa bales, but that was 2 months prior to these bad boys showing up. They weren't found in the same area where the hay is kept either. Ugh!!

I remember hearing of an incident at a racetrack where the hay seller guaranteed the trainer there were no blister beetles in the alfalfa he sold him.  There were and horses died.  The trainer sued.  These things drag out forever so I don't know how it turned out.    

It's always best to investigate where your alfalfa comes from, even in alfalfa based feeds (if you can) I always ask where alfalfa is sourced from before I buy. There are just some areas that are high risk I wont buy if that's where the alfalfa comes from, even if its "guaranteed BB free" all it takes is 1. There are safe options,  just have to research. 

It's not my alfalfa. They are on the property I live on

I'm from Oklahoma & we have them here too.  It's my understanding that there are more then 200 different Blister Beetles.  They have a fluid that comes out of their joints that is toxic to horses.  The problem is that they love Grasshopper eggs.  So, grasshoppers get in the alfalfa pastures to lay their eggs and the blister beetles move in in swarms to eat the eggs.  If the swather has a "crimper" to shorten the cure time, it will kill the beetle leaving it in the alfalfa to be bailed and fed.  If it's a swather that just cuts the alfalfa the beetle can normally move on before bailing time.  I try to get earlier cuttings, before mature beetles are out and before grasshoppers are out in force. Early alfalfa cuttings are more stemmy and later cuttings are more leafy.  Turning your horses out to graze should be safe, it's the bailed alfalfa that should give you concern.  JMO

Call your County extension agent in your area and tell them your concerns and see if they can help you. 

Yes that's a blister beetle. Only toxic if crushed. We have them here in Kansas and they usually show up by the second and third cuttings. Most guys or I should say experience guys who put up hay for horse people know this, they use a swather without crimpers, so it rolls vs crushes. Normally you dont see them in the first and second cutting (not always) so this hay is what you would want to invest in.

As far as them being in the pastures, we run our horses on grass majority of the year, I have yet to have a sick horse due to them (knock on wood). I worry more about oppossums.

We do have them everywhere, i see them in the yard, fields, etc.