Effective Fly Control for Comfortable Horses

As a horse owner, your primary goal is to ensure that your horses are comfortable. Flies, however, can disrupt that peace. They target horses, inflicting painful bites that draw blood and cause significant stress. This not only impacts your horse’s comfort but can also pose serious health risks. The good news? You can take steps to protect your horses and provide them with relief from these pesky pests.

The Impact of Flies on Horses

Flies are often viewed as a nuisance, can be much more than just bothersome. House flies for instance, are known disease vectors, transferring harmful bacteria and viruses as they move from one surface to another. They become a threat when their populations spiral out of control in conjunction with a disease outbreak, causing considerable stress and health concern to your horses.

Stable flies are notorious for their painful bites, are aggressive blood-feeders. These flies don't just bite horses; they will target any warm-blooded creature, including humans, pets, and other livestock. The blood meals they take cause physical discomfort and, if left unchecked, can lead to significant blood loss. In many cases, the stress and irritation caused by constant stable fly attacks can lead to a frenzied or aggressive mood in an otherwise docile horse.

Managing Fly Populations

A single horse’s manure can produce up to 10,000 flies per day, making it easy for an infestation to take hold quickly. Left uncontrolled, these populations can grow large and difficult to manage. To minimize the risk of fly-borne diseases and reduce discomfort for your horses, it’s essential to create an integrated pest management plan focused on fly control.

To help tackle fly infestations at various stages, the Starbar^® Products line offers a range of effective tools:

• Bite Free™ Stable Fly Trap
• Fly Stik™ Sticky Fly Traps
• Pyronyl™ Crop Spray
• Starbar^® UL-100 EC Insecticidal Spray
• Starbar^® E-Pro Adulticide Spray

In addition, ClariFly^® Larvicide can be incorporated into an animal’s feed to stop flies developing in the horse’s treated manure. Adding ClariFly^® Larvicide to their existing feed ration is all the work needed to reduce disease-carrying filth fly populations on an equine operation.

Flies may seem like a minor annoyance, but the reality is that they pose serious risks to your horses' health and well-being. By utilizing products from Starbar^® Products, you can significantly reduce fly populations and safeguard your horses' health.