Suppression of Stable Flies on Cattle Jeffery K

E-212 7/04 Suppression of Stable Flies on Cattle Jeffery K. Tomberlin Assistant Professor and Extension Specialist The Texas A&M University System ecause of its painful bite, The stable fly also resembles the stable fly is a consider- the deer fly and horse fly. able pest of livestock and However, stable flies primarily Bpeople. Populations of attack the legs of livestock; these more than 20 flies per cow can other flies do not. significantly lower income for livestock producers. Infestations of 50 Biology and habitat flies per cow on beef cattle have The stable fly has a complete reduced weight gain by 25 percent life cycle with egg, larval, pupal and, in dairy cattle, have and adult stages (Fig. 2). decreased milk production by 40 Populations can grow quickly: A to 60 percent. Figure 1. Adult stable fly (Photo female stable fly lives for about 3 To suppress stable flies effec- courtesy of Bart Drees, Texas to 4 weeks and lays about 500 to Cooperative Extension). tively and economically, it is 600 eggs during its lifetime. important to: Under optimal conditions, an egg can develop into an adult in 3 to 4 weeks; • Be able to identify them properly; therefore, several generations can develop • Understand the insect’s life cycle to be each year. able to interrupt it; and • Use a combination of control strategies. The eggs are typically laid in wet straw, such as around hay bales (Fig. 3) or in other Identification decomposing vegetation mixed with the urine The stable fly, Stomoxys calcitrans, (Fig. 1) and feces produced by the confined animals. looks like the housefly and horn fly, but it is 1 considerably larger ( ⁄4 inch). Also unlike these Management flies, its mouthparts resemble a bayonet that To suppress stable fly populations efficient- can easily be seen protruding from its head. ly, producers should use an integrated pest Unlike the housefly, the stable fly depends on management (IPM) approach. IPM relies on blood as food and has an extremely painful bite. Figure 2. Stable fly maggots and pupa (Photo courtesy of Bart Drees, Texas Cooperative Extension). Figure 3. Remnants of hay bales can become breeding sites for three tactics for successful suppression of an stable flies. insect pest: cultural, biological and chemical. Cultural control: Using cultural control reduce fly numbers. Another drawback is that methods involves manipulating the environ- such materials must be changed every 1 to 2 ment to reduce insect pest populations. The weeks because they dry out, become coated most economical method for suppressing sta- with dust or become “saturated” with flies. ble fly populations is sanitation. Biological control: This IPM tactic uses In confined animal facilities, a top priority natural predators, parasites or pathogens to should be to eliminate stable fly breeding sites suppress pests. Examples include some as often as possible. To do this, remove and species of parasitic wasps that lay their eggs spread decomposing vegetation or bedding in immature stable flies. The resulting wasp material that has become mixed with urine offspring feed on the stable fly maggot and and feces. Doing so will allow the material to eventually kill it. The immature parasitic dry faster and prevent colonization by the sta- wasp then will develop into an adult, emerge ble fly. from the fly pupa and repeat its cycle. This practice can also be implemented for These parasitoids are available commercial- range cattle. During the winter, hay bales are ly and can be used to augment natural popula- often provided as food for cattle. However, tions. However, although parasitic wasps offer over the course of the winter, the sites where some measure of control, they do not produce hay bales have been placed become ideal sta- immediate results, and they are not 100 per- ble fly breeding areas (Fig. 3). To reduce stable cent effective. Therefore, do not use biological fly populations on the range, implement the control alone but in concert with other meth- same cultural practices as for confined animal ods, such as sanitation. facilities. Chemical control: If a stable fly problem Another tactic for confined animal areas is persists, an insecticide can be used. Many to design the stalls to allow for complete compounds are available for suppressing adult manure removal and drainage. Also, clean out and larval stable fly populations. the wet feed remaining in the ends of troughs Animals can be treated as needed with at least weekly, because it can serve as a ready-to-use sprays containing pyrethrins. breeding site for flies. Residual wall sprays such as Demon® (400g/kg ® For small to moderate fly populations of cypermethrin), Cislin10 (10 g/L deltamethrin) ® adult flies, sticky ribbons and other mechani- or Dyfly Plus (10g/kg methomyl) can be cal methods are effective. However, if used applied to surfaces where the insects rest. alone, these methods will not substantially Backrubs, which use compounds such as Co- For more information Ral 11.6% EC (coumaphos) or Atroban 11% EC Additional information on insecticides (permethrin), also can reduce stable fly popu- labeled for livestock arthropod pests can be lations. However, because backrubs are viewed at: applied only to the animal’s back, some areas, such as the animal’s legs, are not treated and http://stephenville.tamu.edu/~jktomberlin/lspe are open for stable fly feeding. st.html For dairy cattle, spray products such as Disvap III® (0.2% dichlorvos, 0.02% perme- Acknowledgments The author would like to thank Bart Drees thrin, 0.1% butoxyde de pipéronyle, 0.3% di-n- and Greta Schuster of Texas Cooperative propyle-isocinchoméronate) can be used. Extension and L. Tomberlin for their helpful comments on this manuscript. Educational programs of Texas Cooperative Extension are open to all people without regard to race, color, sex, disability, reli-.

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