Green Tractor Talk banner

Need Suggestions on Controlling Flies

4K views 20 replies 17 participants last post by  kabic 
#1 ·
This Summer in Tennessee has been very hot and humid. It's been a perfect breeding environment for flies. Our horses are being eaten alive out in the pasture by horse flies and the common black fly. I've put fly masks on all of them, and even rub them down periodically with citronella wipes or spray, but the flies don't care. They still swarm on the horses backs and bellies. I've even tried a feed block that once the horses ate it, would help control new fly reproduction, but this didn't seem to reduce the amount of flies either.

Any suggestions as to how I might control these little buggers in my pastures?
 
#2 ·
Tonton, We've been 30 years trying to figure this out. If it's hot and sunny with no breeze the horses stay in.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 5304
#4 ·
I haven't found a great solution. My best option in TN was to put them to work, if they're moving they're less likely to be fly covered. Some fly sprays are more effective than others, Dumor worked okay but Bronco never did anything for ours.

Keep your manure piles knocked down and spread out, some type of harrow or just something heavy to pull behind the tractor should do.
 
#5 ·
Never done it myself, but I've read where diluted Birch Bark Tar can be applied to the horses. It's a pungent smell that the mosquitoes do not care for. One application of it supposedly lasts a week or so.

If you have birch trees near by, it can be made right at home, and diluted with another oil such as olive oil. Plenty of web sites on how to do it. Caution when making it, the tar is flammable.
 
#6 ·
what about traps?
 
  • Like
Reactions: 5304
#8 ·
A combination of these, as you have time and equipment, and money for:

1. Drag the pasture as often as possible, so manure piles are spread out to dry. As an alternative, pick up manure piles. Good in theory, at least.
2. You've tried the feed through fly control. For that to work well, every horse on the farm and any others close by need to be on it.
3. I've had minimal luck with traps on a large scale, but in a small area like a tack room or feed room in a barn they can be effective. Down side is that once they start to fill up with dead flies, they smell horrible.
4. I have an automatic fly spray system in my barn, but more flies immediately move in to replace their killed friends. It does control the barn spiders pretty well, though.
5. If you irrigate pastures, don't overdo it. Flies lay eggs only in the outer moist layer of a manure pile, they don't burrow inside it. So give the outsides of the piles a chance to dry.
6. The pyrethrin based fly sprays don't seem to me to really repel flies from the horse. What does seem to are the ones with natural oils. The down side is cost, and that they don't last all that long. Need to spray the horses at least twice a day, and preferably every 8 hours. Horse Journal, which started as a 4 page newsletter years ago as the Consumer Reports for horse products, likes Ecovet spray. I haven't tried it yet.
Ecovet Fly Spray is Strong | Horse Journal
7. I know several farm owners who swear by fly predators. Butt they work best in and immediately around a barn. I'm not sure of the range.
https://www.smartpakequine.com/pt/f..._campaign=fly predators&utm_term=fly predator
8. Fly sheets, particulary those with belly guards and neck hoods, plus an eared fly mask work pretty well, if the horse will tolerate them. The main problem I've found is that even as thin as they are, the horse gets really hot and sweaty.
9. Some horses seem to be partictularly tasty to flies. I'm not sure why. I have one, a quarter horse, who the flies just love. No matter what I do for him, the flies cover his lower front legs all summer.
10. Speaking of fly sprays, have you ever noticed how much is wasted because the spray pattern of the bottle is so wide that much of it misses the horse? That evidently is by design so that you use it up more quickly and have to buy more. I saw a marketing study years back about how much waste a buyer would tolerate so the spray pattern could be optimized for profit.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 5304
#9 ·
I use 10% Permethrin, mixed one oz per quart,, I get it at TSC.

Next time I purchase, I will get this,,

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B003IMO3I...TF8&colid=2OJ3YDNER09T4&coliid=I3KM58BDCHVFQQ

The mix ratio will be one oz per gallon!! :good2:

It is fun to spray a horse fly with the stuff,,,
it is like dove hunting,,, many times they just drop when hit.

We tried several traps,, the smell,, the mess,,, the cost,,, :dunno:

Oh, yea,, this bottle will give you great range for a hand held,,,

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00P8E4338/ref=olp_product_details?_encoding=UTF8&me=
 
  • Like
Reactions: 5304
#11 ·
Howdy I had exactly the same problem until I built a stable in the pasture with electric fans. But before this it was real bad for us in Georgia. My horses would come to us covered with flys and it was killing the wife because she felt so badly for them. I tried all kinds of stuff and what worked pretty well to control the flys was a spot on product like they use for dog fleas, but its for horses. There are a few of these out there but the one we used is in the link below. Each plastic vial is about an ounce and you put a few drops on the forehead, on top of the neck, the back, and on the front and rear flanks. The product is effective for a few weeks as I recall then you need to reapply. I would estimate this knocked down the flys on our horses by about 75 percent.

Freedom-45 Spot-On for Horses, Pack of 6 - For Life Out Here

If you need the name of good and reasonable barn builder I have one that is a gem. He has built 2 for me and is a very honest man. I know he does some in Tennesee.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 5304
#12 · (Edited)

Attachments

  • Like
Reactions: 5304
#13 ·
A spray that would not keep them knocked down in the barn is Suspend SC or Talstar One. They are each a synthetic pyrethroid and would not help with the flies in the field but around the barn/farmstead. Each are pet safe when dry, so if the cats could be contained while applying it could be an option. They both work through the insect contact with a sprayed surface like a wall area.

I've not used Talstar but have used Suspend, and that is the bomb for killing spiders and all sorts of creepy crawlers that have a way of inhabiting a basement or lesser used spaces like barns/shops. I spray it around the perimeter of the house and we have no bugs inside.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 5304
#16 ·
How long does it last? I'm looking for something to keep spiders and such out of my shop (happy to have them outside eating bugs, but not inside). Also we found a small scorpion inside the house last week - not huge fans of those.
 
#14 ·
An old guy I used to know swore by dryer sheets to repel flies.
I believe his favorite was Bounce.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 5304
#18 ·
We've got cattle in a pasture, and flies can get really bad. We use fly predators and they work quite well. Our former next door neighbor, a Vet with horses, introduced us to them.

https://www.spalding-labs.com/

Just spread them out on the manure and they kill the fly larvae, stopping the next generation.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 5304
#19 ·
We're fortunate that we don't have a big problem with them - this year anyway. Some people in this area I know use the "Fly Predators" and say they work. I keep corrals picked up and either pile for composting away from barn/horses or spread in the arena or pasture.

Since your heat/humidity is very different from what I have here, I really don't have a good recommendation for you, TonTon, sorry.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 5304
#20 ·
  • Like
Reactions: 5304
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top