Horseflies & Other equine pests -What to DO!!!!

[MossflowerWoods]

GOOD GRAVY!

The Horseflies have become unbearable. My poor two ponies are seriously under attack.

What can I do?

Back when I had more than 2 guineas, they kept the pasture area pretty well patrolled and the bogs down to a resonable level.

But now... Holy Cow...

I saw fly traps at TSC for house flies. What can I do for horse flies etc.?

Thanks in advance.
David

 

[rasimmo]

My wife bought a biting fly trap out of one of those horse junk magazines. It is put up on some T posts. It works better than I figured it would. We had to clean it out every day for a while. It would catch 100 or so everyday. We still have a few, but it is not nearly as bad. I'll see if I can find out exactly what it is called and let you know.

Edit: EPPS Biting Fly Trap Horseline (Fly Control - Fly Traps)

That is the one we have.

 

[tcartwri]

Our horses always spent the majority of bug season in the barn. My mare actually got so distraught one day that she ran through a page wire fence, snapping the fence post off at the ground. Did you ever build that shelter?

 

[NHmitch]

GOOD GRAVY!

The Horseflies have become unbearable. My poor two ponies are seriously under attack.

What can I do?

We have a horse farm, and have had a fly problem for years. They go along with the farm, and manure, but this year we tried something new, and we turned to a biological answer that was recommended by our Ag extension office, and it has had amazing results. We bought Arbico Fly Eliminators. They are gnat sized parasitic wasps, that attack, and kill the flys. They are amazing! We have no flys this year, and I am not exaggerating. You get a shipment once a month from them, and you put what they send you, (looks like mouse droppings, but it is cocoons) onto your manure piles, or anywhere wet where flys may breed, and then they do their magic. You never know that they are around, and they do not bother you at all. They have taken care of our fly problem, we actually have not had to use fly masks this year, and we had a terrible fly problem, like most equine facilities. It runs about $16 a month, but it is the best investment I have ever made on our farm, because it has really eliminated our fly issue. We will never go without these now, they are great!

Fly Parasites from ARBICO - Biological Fly Control for Horses and Livestock

 

[rasimmo]

We use fly predator bugs too. They do work great, very few flies around the barn. They don't help on the horse or deer flies though. That's why we bought the trap.

 

[QRTRHRS]

My wife bought a biting fly trap out of one of those horse junk magazines. It is put up on some T posts. It works better than I figured it would. We had to clean it out every day for a while. It would catch 100 or so everyday. We still have a few, but it is not nearly as bad. I'll see if I can find out exactly what it is called and let you know.

Edit: EPPS Biting Fly Trap Horseline (Fly Control - Fly Traps)

That is the one we have.

I have always wondered how well this type of trap works. Kind of pricey but if it does the job it would be worth it.

If your barn is not too dusty, you can find this 1/4" wide white line kind of like a shoelace with some sticky on it. I had it strung up about ten feet high on both sides of my last barn with a center aisle. Attracted to the light color, the flies will land on it as you string it. Certainly better than the old fashioned paper strips. As it gets dirty though, the flies won't stick hence time for new. My current barn is too dusty for it.

We have had the best luck with the disposable traps that Wal-Mart and Lowes carry. Add water and hang. These have green markings over the clear bag and seem to work better than the similar one's with orange coloring I think from TSC. I started hanging them in March this year. For what I have spent, I could have bought one of these big traps like rasimmo posted.

I have and still do use the preditor flies but while they help, we always had to use other means of control.

You can also plumb your barn with a spray system that periodically sprays peritheren or something. I don't have first hand experiance nor do I want to get into it what with hay stored in my barn, etc.

 

[riptides]

We use a combination of waste management, manure pile is way far away from the animals, and horse rotation during the day/night.

During the day, we bring the horses into the stalls, at night they are out in the pasture.

If they are in the pen during the day, they have fly blankets on.

We don't have any traps or other insects preying on the flies. Just lucky I guess. The regular house flies are about, not bad, I don't recall seeing a horse fly yet.

 

[Lava Rancher]

I grew up on a horse ranch and we normally had 20 to 30 horses. Needless to say I've scooped a load or two. A variety if strategies can be required. We used traps, the wasps, and chemical control. Having a large flock if free range chickens helped a ton as the picked through the manure thoroughly for larva. You cannot control what happens beyond your fences. We used to have to go over our horses with a bot block daily but I haven't seen a bot fly in 20 to 25 years. What changed was that the cattle country around the ranch was subdivided and the herds just aren't there. Also I think that widespread use Of ivormectin may have wiped them out of that area. People and animals can develop an allergy. To the chemical control, pyrmethrin or however it is spelled. If someone in your family is prone to allergies I'd hesitate to use it as a mist. Avon's skin so soft is a repellent although not marketted as such. Occasionally horses develope a fly allergy and then your life becomes really difficult!

Keep the manure picked up and regularly turn over your pile. You can cover a pile with black plastic to heat it up and burn eggs and larva but be warned that manure piles can spontaneously combust.

 

[KYErik]

Keeping manure picked up and the tiny wasps and chickens will help with regular biting flies, but not with true horse flies- Horse-fly - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Horse flies lay their eggs next to water (ponds, streams etc.) and the larvae develop/mature there. The adult horseflies emerge from these aquatic environments and then fly to your pasture looking for blood meals.

When they got really bad, I would use a fly swatter and hang out with the horse in the evening. He caught on quickly what I was doing and wouldn't even flinch when I swatted them off his back.

 

[Soundguy]

easy to make fly traps with jugs and attractant.

can buy the premade reusable traps, the lid screw on style or make your own. 1 tube of attractant lasts a looooon g time