Fly situation: solutions worth trying.?

[Xanthoria]

Our barn manager heaps manure everywhere. You can imagine the results… he’s resistant to change

Last year my horse wore a sheet, boots and mask 24/7, was sprayed daily and has multiple fly traps around her pen. But with about 60 horses on the property the volume of manure means the problem is serious.

Buying fly predators for the whole property has been discussed by some boarders, but ensuring they’re applied in the right places at the right times seems impossible for various reasons. (BO moves manure around into piles to compost it so the predator eggs could be buried 6’ deep the day after they are applied)

Is it worth spreading lime on manure heaps and pee spots?

Is it worth spreading out piles so they dry out on hot days?

Are the fly attracting ball devices effective? https://bugballkit.com/

What about attaching cow ear tags to the fly sheets?

Any other suggestions short of paying to have manure removed ourselves?

[Simkie]

I used cattle tags last year & do think they helped. I braided into mane & tail or attached to fly sheets. I used these ones:

https://www.valleyvet.com/ct_detail.html?pgguid=36F745B1-C9B2-4DCA-B9C0-632165232D7A

I’d also focus on putting any fly attractant traps on the perimeter of the property, rather than around your horse’s pen. The bait attracts flies…you want those traps away from the horses. Otherwise you’re just drawing hoards to the area.

[moonlitoaksranch]

The manure pile sounds like the biggest problem. One heap that gets turned every once in awhile would help a lot.

[QHEventer]

I use a topical that is marketed towards cattle, but my farrier recommended it and it worked amazingly well last year. Of course, I can’t remember the name off-hand, but I’ll update when I get out to the barn today. I use a dropper and put it down the horse’s entire topline, and the back of each leg and last year I think I only reapplied about every two weeks. Kept flies off much better than dousing in fly spray multiple times a day!

[Luseride]

Be careful with cattle products. Horses have “twitichy skin” so there are some products that are safe for cattle that will cause nerve damage on a horse.

[QHEventer]

@Luseride

Be careful with cattle products. Horses have “twitichy skin” so there are some products that are safe for cattle that will cause nerve damage on a horse.

Just found the bottle. It is formulated for horses as well as cattle and goats! Ultraboss.

[J-Lu]

My BOs use fly predators. They receive them and when they start to hatch, they distribute them around the property. I’ve done this a few times for them. I also was house and barn sitting when they received fly predators and forgot to tell me, the bag was buried under other things! I kept wondering “where are all of these gnat things coming from?”

They seem to hatch pretty fast - the barn manager may not have time to bury them! Alternatively, you can put them on small poop piles that might be too small for the barn manager to mess with.

By BO thinks they help lessen the fly population - thinks this enough to keep using them.