Improve fly control with a plan, implement it, evaluate, and adjust as needed to keep flies and other nuisance insects under control. Insects can be a problem year-round, but as temperatures increase, you may start to notice a loss in production, sick animals, and more obviously, more flies around your property or feedlot.

These are all signs you need to act. Flies are more than a nuisance. They cause harm to both livestock and property that contribute to economic losses. 

Common Nuisance Flies For Cattle & Livestock

Stable Flies

Stable flies are blood-feeding flies that primarily affect livestock, including cattle, horses, and pigs. They are usually found around stable areas, feedlots, and pastures. Stable flies have mouthparts designed to pierce the skin and suck blood. Their bites cause pain, irritation, and distress to the affected animals.

Horn Flies

Horn flies are small blood-feeding flies that primarily infest beef cattle. They are commonly found in areas with bovine, including pastures and feedlots. Horn flies primarily feed on the blood of the host animals, taking multiple blood meals each day. Infestations can cause significant economic losses due to decreased weight gain, reduced milk production, and animal stress.

Face Flies

Face flies are non-biting flies that primarily target cattle. They are attracted to the secretion around the eyes, nose, and mouth of the animals. Face flies can be a nuisance as they constantly pester the animals, causing them to exhibit defensive behaviors such as head tossing and rubbing.

House Flies

House flies are a common nuisance insect found worldwide, including in livestock facilities. While they do not bite, they can still negatively impact livestock. House flies are attracted to animal waste, decaying organic matter, and moist environments, and they can spread pathogens from these sources to the animals. The flies can transmit various diseases, such as salmonellosis and dysentery, by contaminating feed, water, and the animals' surroundings.

Livestock Fly Control Methods

One of the easiest ways to combat flies is to look at your approach in four levels based on where flies spend their time.

High
Have you ever noticed flies in the rafters of barns or shops or near ceilings in your home? This is because after feeding, flies have a tendency to rest up high in the cooler regions of barns, stables, and other outbuildings.

The best way to combat flies at this level where other control methods can’t reach is a sticky fly trap. These range from your basic Revenge® Fly Strips to a stick-style trap like the Starbar® Fly Stik™ Fly Traps, available in a 12" Junior size or a 24" Regular size

Medium

The mid-range is where flies tend to mate, so you need different types of traps and control to catch them. These areas include fence lines, walls, and other mid-level areas to lure flies looking to mate in between feeding and resting.

There are a variety of different ways you can trap flies, from the Starbar Captivator® Fly Trap, Starbar Fly Terminator® PRO, and the Starbar Trap ‘N Toss™ Disposable Trap that have an attractant to lure flies. The design of traps like these, as well as Starbar Fly Relief™ Disposable Fly Traps, will let flies in, but not back out.

Low

This is where flies feed. The scatter baits, strips, and traps used at this level need to have an attractant to encourage flies to feed and draw them away from problem areas.

The disposable Starbar Bite Free™ Stable Fly Trap was designed so that when sunlight shines through the trap, flies are drawn to the shimmering, translucent surface. This makes it perfect for lower areas in your barns and outbuildings.

Scatter baits are another great option at this level. If you are worried about non-nuisance animals getting into the bait or the mess of scatter bait, using a Starbar Fly Bait Station will eliminate the mess and reduce the exposure. Starbar Golden Marlin®, Starbar QuikStrike®, Bayer QuickBayt®, and Starbar Cyanarox™ are all great scatter bait options to use on their own, or with a bait station.

In, On & Around

Especially in rural areas, premise control options are needed throughout your operation to fight a variety of insects. Products used at this level can be sprayed or fogged in and around structures and applied directly to animals like beef cattle to fight flies, mosquitoes, and more.

Elanco Elector™ PSP Fly Control and Elanco Agita® 10 WG Insecticide are great premise insect control agents; easy to use, simply mix with water, and spray in areas where flies congregate. Other premise control agents can be applied directly to animals, as well as sprayed or fogged in and around buildings like PROZAP® Aqueous Fly Spray

Sprays are a more traditional method of controlling flies in and around buildings and give you more of an instant knock-down/kill than other methods. PROZAP Dy-Fly® Aerosol Insecticide is available in two sizes. For more regular control, add a PROZAP ProMist'R II Programmable Metered Dispenser and add a can of PROZAP LD-44T™ Metered Fly Spray

Get a plan in place before flies become an issue for you and your livestock. If you take a multi-level approach to insect and pest control, you can stay ahead of the problem before it causes problems.

See our full selection of Insect Control products for more fly control options. We also offer pest control products like ear tags, pour-on topicals, dust bags, and more to help control fly populations, mosquitoes, roaches, ants, and more. If you have additional questions, leave them below, or give us a call at 888-433-5275.

Did we miss any important fly control points? Tell us in the comments section.