Flies More Than Annoyances for Dairy Cattle
Integrated pest management can help in your fly-control efforts.
If left unchecked, flies can be more than a nuisance to you and your dairy cattle. They can take a big chunk from your bottomline profits through reduced milk production, higher incidence of certain diseases and increased veterinary and medication costs, among other things.
According to information from the Texas A&M University AgriLIFE Extension1, integrated pest management (IPM) can help you manage flies effectively and economically. IPM is not a way to control pests, but a way of thinking about pest control. It links many control methods into one system, excluding any that disrupt or diminish the effectiveness of the others. In IPM, all control methods must support each other.
The IPM strategy uses as many nontoxic or nonlethal methods as possible to suppress fly population growth. It unites sanitation, biological control and chemical agents to manage flies effectively and economically. Dairy fly IPM activities should begin in winter or spring before flies are active, and continue until fly activity shuts down at the end of the season.
Nine principles
The following nine principles govern fly control in dairies and can also provide excellent guidelines for your IPM program, according to the Texas A&M experts:
1. Set a measurable and clearly defined goal. For each goal, lay out a plan of action that includes a way to measure progress, plans for prevention and include only mutually compatible methods. Make goals simple and flexible enough to allow for changes. Plan for setbacks.
2. Gain and maintain the initiative. Take action before problems arise. Get ahead of the flies before they get ahead of you. Start control activities early, use multiple methods and keep constant pressure on
flies throughout the season.
3. Use everything needed to get the job done. Apply decisive force at critical times and places to achieve your desired goal. Don’t scrimp on resources. Reluctant half-measures work against you.
4. Attack weakness, not strength. Flies have three great strengths: a short generation time, a high reproductive rate and the ability to detoxify many poisons. Flies also have four great weaknesses: They are vulnerable to changes in habitat, changes in food supplies, competition from other species and
predators and parasites.
5. Use only the material and effort necessary to achieve the desired result. Don’t waste time, energy or resources on overkill.
6. Make all methods and actions work together. Remember that you are in charge of your fly-control operation. Don’t let the flies or other factors distract you from your goal.
7. Continue to monitor fly populations throughout the season. Don’t be surprised by a fly population explosion. Be flexible in your use of time and IPM methods. Give yourself some space to adjust to situations as they develop.
8. Do the unexpected. Take advantage of materials and practices that flies have not experienced before. When flies resist a control agent or adapt to overcome a control practice, use new materials or
different practices they have not recently encountered.
9. Keep control efforts simple. The more complex the fly-control operation, the more there is to go wrong.
AgriLabs has formed a strategic partnership with KMG Chemicals, Inc., a global provider of specialty chemicals in carefully focused markets.
Among other things, this new partnership adds a high quality insecticide line to AgriLabs product offerings for dairy producers, says Steve Schram, AgriLabs CEO.
This new line incorporates KMG’s industry-leading Avenger® and Patriot® ear tags, as well as quality insecticides, into the AgriLabs portfolio, which already includes more than 750 animal health products.