Visit our ranch and you will be amazed at how comfortable it is to be out in our pastures. We have plenty of manure, but relatively few flies. This is because we use fly parasites. Like most stock breeders, we try to avoid using pesticides around our livestock due to the potential for genetic damage that the chemicals might cause or facilitate. We also try to use as few petrochemicals as possible for general ecological and economical reasons. We've tried out all kinds of fly control measures, and fly parasites have worked so well that this will be our third season incorporating their use at our ranch.
Fly parasites have actually been available for more than 20 years. They are tiny wasp like insects that can be introduced to your pastures to control pest flies. Vendors typically provide a proprietary mix of species in their marketed product. Fly parasites lay their eggs in the fly pupa, an immature fly form. The fly pupa is the stage between larva or maggot, and adult fly. The young fly parasites eat the fly pupa when they hatch, destroying it. Then the fly parasites go on to live out their life cycle and make more fly parasites.
So, over the course of a season, you have more fly parasites and fewer and fewer pest flies. All of this activity takes place where flies lay there eggs which is typically in manure or other decomposing organic material. Fly parasites do not harm or bother any other animal or insect, so using them will not upset the general ecological balance on your ranch. The fly parasites are small, and look like something like gnats to the naked eye. Fly parasites are most active at night and stay where they reproduce so you will not find them zinging around your kitchen. They stay our in the pasture where you want them to work.
If you farm, you are as aware as your animals of the biting nuisance that flies present. They make any animal, including the human, miserable in moments, with their buzzing, swarming, pestering and biting. Those bites can cause allergic skin conditions which then compound the misery factor. The irritation from biting will cause dairy cattle to produce less milk. Fly aggravation also causes feeder animals to eat less, and gain less weight which in turn is reflected in your profit margin at harvest time. Additionally, weight loss can be directly attributed to blood loss from biting.
In the course of that biting and contact, flies pass viruses and bacteria, infecting open tissue and eyes. I remember traveling in North Africa as a child, and seeing large numbers of people blind from the effects of the fly spread disease, trachoma. While we do not see human trachoma in the U.S., it can affect livestock. Shigella and E. Coli are both spread by flies and cause enteric or gut infections in humans and livestock. Flies can spread lumpy skin disease and anaplasmosis or gall disease among dairy cattle. All told, there are more than 20 livestock diseases transmitted by flies.
There are a number of companies that sell fly predators. Many deal in other types of organic pest control and have been in business for some time. The easiest way to shop for your ranch is to visit the vendor's on line website or call and request a catalog. Based upon your animal census, the vendor will help you calculate and order the appropriate number of parasites for your ranch needs, and establish a delivery schedule. This will usually be about every two to four weeks. We spend about $350 per season for our parasites.
Just one trip to the web site of your choice, or call, will make it possible to set up your whole delivery schedule for the year. You can make adjustments or order additional shipments if needed depending on weather fluctuations, or changes in your herds but this means you don't have to remember to keep reordering your shipments for scheduled delivery.
Fly parasites are shipped by mail in their immature, pupal stage in some packing material, usually sawdust. They will timed to start to hatch as adults upon arrival. The user releases the parasites by scattering them in their packing material in areas where manure is present. Alternatively, they can be placed in hatching canisters in fly breeding areas. That's it! The containers are a good idea if you have free ranging birds like chickens or guinea fowl that might gobble up the parasites before they hatch.
Each fly parasite will reduce your fly load by about 50 flies. But flies reproduce more quickly than the parasites, so it is important to reintroduce new batches of fly parasites regularly to keep up with your pests. Other keys to use include releasing the appropriate numbers of fly parasites for the density of pest flies on your property, starting the fly parasite releases early in the season, and continuing the releases through the entire fly season, with adjustment for weather. Typically your dosing schedule will run from spring frost disappearance until frost returns come fall. It is much easier to prevent a fly problem than to clear a raging fly population out once it has gotten established. So it is imperative when using fly parasites to start the release of parasites in early spring so they are on hand when the first flies come buzzing in.
For best success, remember that the fly parasites are only one part of a good fly control plan. Parasites work best when used with fly traps and bait, fly boxes for larger livestock, and the limited application of pesticides on livestock. We have not had to apply pesticide ear tags since we started using fly parasites. Fly boxes are enclosed structures that contain sticky fly bait that you walk the livestock through. The flies come off and stay inside the box, attracted to the bait, as the animal moves along out of the box.
Of course, good sanitation practices in pens, stables and pastures are critical. Manure should be collected and disposed of in composting areas. Urine should be prevented from pooling and collecting and water tanks need to be kept clean. And remember, flies travel for miles so your neighbors farming practices will influence the fly density on your land.
Most livestock operations look to keep pesticide and chemical use to a minimum around breeding animals. Incorporating the use of fly parasites in your pest management plan can help towards this goal. They are compatible if you farm organically, cost effective, and labor saving. Best of all, they will save both you and your animals a lot of misery from fly bites.
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