What is the best fly spray for horses? (I know this is subjective question) Everything I have used so far seems to last about 12 hours. The flies are real bad now in my area, and I am looking for something that will last a little longer. I am using Repel X now... Maybe I am not applying it correctly???
Thanks,
Joe
I use a pour on some, but really what has helped the most is breaking up the manure in the pasture. I am thinking about a treatment that you feed the horses, and they pass a fly larvae lovin' varmint that gets em right in the piles.
My local AG store (stillwater milling) is great about sorting through this stuff, but what works here, might not be best, elsewhere....
mike mccloskey
We've tried everything it seems. Nuttin woyks. Manure management is the only recourse on this acreage.
Doug
we too have tried most everything. What works best for us is keeping the stalls scrupulously clean, keeping the manure away from the barn, and fly tape. I installed a tape roller earlier this summer and have gone through MANY feet already, whenever I unroll more tape in the morning, it's completely covered by night. To me, dead is better than shooed away.
I also have success with those inverted "bucket" traps that use water and odorant to attract the pests.
pete
it's a shame that common sense isn't
Joe,
Sorry to agree with everyone else, but keeping the stalls clean and the manure away from the barn works the best for us. We actually dump the stall cleanings (wood chips and manure) into a 4 cu yard Dumpster which gets hauled away every other Monday. Once I get our new pasture fenced in, we may be able to do away with the Dumpster. However, it's very convenient to have one around. All the things I used to have to tie up, e.g., tree trimmings, in bundles for the regular trash pickup I now just put in the FEL and dump into the Dumpster.
We also have fly masks for all our horses which work well. When my wife cleans up the horses, she will spray them with fly spray. She also sprays them before riding them, but it doesn't last long.
We debated about using the stuff you feed horses to kill the fly larvae, but we weren't comfortable with the idea of feeding our horses 'chemicals'. Others have used it with success, but it wasn't for us.
I know that some folks use Diatomatious Earth. Here is an interesting article I just looked up using Google Diatomecious Earth the Silver Bullet - I used DE for internal and external parasites in cattle with success. No chemicals, no resistance build up. It works well in the garden for tomato worms and potato bugs too!!
My 2 cents
As has been said none of them work very well. I have never had any that work more than a day or two at the most. Manue mgmt. is your best effort but that doesn't help much in the pastures.
If you feed the flow through stuff you have to start feeding a month before the fly season and continue to feed it all year. It's called Rabon and they have to be on it continuously.
I'm not sure how much you want to spend but check out this site. www.bitingflies.com They sell this thing called horse pal. I've considered this even though we don't have horses, everyone else around us do and the deer flies in mid summer are unbearable. Sorry but I don't know how to attach the link to this post.
I guess it attaches it itself, pretty cool!!!
Check into the use of fly predators. A biological solution is always best. Fly predators are tiny wasp like insects that eat fly larvae. It is a program that is best started at the beginning of fly season, but should be effective at some level even started now. A few companies in California supply them. Solitude is a good spray. Never been too impressed with repelX. Don't know of any spray application that lasts longer than 12 hours though a few market that way. Fly traps, though disgusting to look at and really smelly do a fantastic job. carolyn831
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote