Feed through fly control

[Iride]

I have never used a feed through fly control supplement, but this year I’m thinking about trying it. Would like to hear your experiences with specific ones (Smartpak has one, HorseTech has Buggzo, etc). The horse in question is a senior, black (his color seems to attract more flies and ticks, poor guy), and picky about what he eats so hopefully whatever I try won’t put him off his feed.

Also, has anyone bought one of those stall fly spray units? Our barn doesn’t have a fly spray system but I’m considering buying one of those units to install in this horse’s own stall.

I do use a fly mask. And sometimes a fly sheet but it’s hot enough as it is without making him miserably even hotter. (Oh and as for fly predators, the farm owner won’t bother and I know if I use them around my horse’s area, it won’t work unless the whole farm is treated with them).

[Beethoven]

I just started my horses on SimpliFly yesterday. I will report back on how it works.

[hosspuller]

We’ve used Equitrol for several years. Without it, the horses are in a cloud of flies. When we halter them, the cloud envelopes us. Yech !!! I’ve thought about using predators, but wonder how the predators would control the flies in a 25 acre pasture. Seems like we would have to use a lot of pupa for the large area.

The Equitrol is compounded in an Alfalfa pellet. The horses eat it alone without hesitation. In fact, they think it some kind of treat, to wait at the gate for. We used a similar product but it was a powder and had to be top dressed on feed. (we have enough pasture, the horses don’t need any more intake.)

[RackNRoll]

Have used Equitrol and another rabon-based generic feed through and it worked great… no flies… BUT… you have to start feeding it before the flies get started in the spring, then continue until the fall, and ALL horses have to be on it, not just some. If there are untreated horses nearby, you are wasting your money. When 8 untreated (and poorly kept) horses moved in next door to us, our attempts at fly control became futile.

[tazycat]

Flies here were horrible last year, so I’ll give the feed through fly control a try. Since it seems to work for others.
I’m going to order equitrol hopefully horse eat it!

[2horseowner]

I have used Solitude and it has been great. My horse would not eat the Smartpak one, but really likes Solitude. It has really made a difference.

[Libby2563]

IME, supplements like Solitude and Equitrol that prevent fly development are unlikely to be effective unless the whole barn is on them, so they aren’t great for boarders. They only really work if the whole barn (and preferable any other barns within flying distance) are on them.

What the OP mentioned (SmartBug-Off and Buggzo) are supplements that are meant to make your horse less attractive to flies. They might work when given to individual horses. I have tried SmartBug-Off but didn’t notice a difference.

I also tried those Country Vet individual stall sprayers and didn’t notice a difference. I donated them to the local donkey rescue, which had good luck putting them in the run-in sheds. I think my problem may have been the stall fans blowing the spray around, not sure. Just a tip, OP, you can put the Country Vet spray cartridges in a Glade Automatic Air Freshener spray holder. It costs much less than the Country Vet one and also has an adjustable timer.

[Color_of_Light]

I recently realized that Simplifly and Equitrol are identical products with different names, slightly different packaging, slightly different pricing. Equitrol seems to be a few dollars cheaper, with 20lbs for $83.99 and Simplifly for $88.99. Both made by Farnam, both containing identical ingredients.
https://jeffers.cvpservice.com/produ…cd35d9e929ze9e
https://jeffers.cvpservice.com/produ…cd35d9e929ze9e

I’ve been feeding Simplifly. This year I didn’t order Fly Preditors because they didn’t seem to do much of anything last year, and I decided to try giving every horse the same dosage: 1 1/2 scoop. So far, no flies, but it’s only late April.

There is a product by MVP called Flies-A-Way that looks interesting. It deters flies by making horses taste and smell bad, according to the flies. It has some really great reviews. If someone has an extremely bug sensitive horse in their herd, I see no reason why they couldn’t double up products. Feed one that keeps flies from developing, and feed one that keeps flies off the horse. One thing I noticed about some of these feed through fly deterrents and some allergy supplements is that they contain diatomacious earth. Diatomacious earth is cheap. I think a 50lb bag is around $20? Flies-A-Way contains 6,500mg per serving and claims that diatomacious earth prevents flies from hatching in manure.
https://medvet.cvpservice.com/produc…bb924b1b0z16c7

[Iride]

Thx for the tip re spray cartridges and MVP supp.

Yes I need to use a ‘make me less attractive to flies’ supplement. Anyone else? And which did you use?

[hosspuller]

Equitrol USED to be a RABON ( organophosphate) based fly control. It was reformulated to use a insect growth regulator instead a few years ago.

Yes… the WHOLE herd has to be treated to be effective. Otherwise the untreated dung piles serve as fly hatcheries.

[rockymouse]

I have three horses and two donkeys in a dry lot together. The horses do get flies (and we use fly predators, which does help), but the donkeys are just beset with flies. One donkey is chocolate brown and flies congregate on his back; the other donkey is the traditional gray, with a bald face (that is, white around both eyes and a very wide blaze down his nose).

The donkey with the white face is extremely attractive to flies. I wonder if it has to do with blood type or something. Regardless, he is troubled every year by summer sores - fly-related sores under/around his eyes and on his sheath. Ow! We have to stay on top of fly management for him pretty closely. And fly masks are a no-go. His donkey pal will have that off in a hot minute.

This year, along with fly predators, I ordered Smartpak’s garlicky feed through. One little packet per day is shared between the two donkeys, as the two of them together equal something horse-sized. I am lucky that the donkeys are adventurous eaters. The packet’s contents smell very strongly of garlic. I doubt any of my horses would eat it…and I don’t think it could be disguised easily in feed.

The result: after three weeks of this supplement, the donkeys are fly free. Our big fly season hasn’t hit hard yet, so the jury is still out, but usually by now the white-faced donkey would be battling flies and there are none. The chocolate donkey is also untroubled. I hope our good luck with this continues, but so far, so good.

[Iride]

Rockymouse, that sounds encouraging, though, the strong garlic smell would likely turn off this old guy who would make a vulture even look picky.