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Being proactive about fly control pays off

Face flies on a cow

An extension agent says more flies means poorer animal health and less profit.

Monroe County, Wisconsin ag agent Bill Halfman tells Brownfield face flies, heel flies horn flies, and others cause irritation and spread disease including pink eye, and they also affect the animal’s production.  “They’re feeding on the blood.  That’s energy and resources that are taken away from gain and so it’s important to keep an eye on those and implement a proactive program.”

There are many ways to control flies, and Halfman says using more than one method is common.  “We use fly tags and they’re convenient, but we should probably use them in combination with other methods to achieve some full-season protection (and) sprays or rubs early in the season and ear tags as late as economically reasonable.”

And, he says what worked before might not work now.  “Well, the problem is some of the horn flies can quickly develop some resistance to some of the first-generation pyrethroids and so we need to be paying attention that what we have is effective.”

Halfman says it’s good to be proactive before the fly problem gets out of control.

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