Outdated Publication, for historical use. CAUTION: Recommendations in this publication may be obsolete. Entomology 200 MANAGING INSECT PROBLEMS ON BEEF CATTLE Kansas State University Agricultural Experiment Station and Cooperative Extension Service 1 Outdated Publication, for historical use. CAUTION: Recommendations in this publication may be obsolete. Foreword Contents Need for Control 2 Although fundamental principles discussed herein are applicable to other situations and other places, this publication Methods and Management 3 was written specifically for beef producers in Kansas. Insect biology and seasonal cycles are discussed according to Kansas conditions. Pest Biology and Ecology 3 In this publication, each listing of insecticides is alphabetical Using Insecticides 4 by common chemical names. Sequence does not indicate an order of preference. Seasonal Occurrence (with graph) 5 The percentage figure after each entry is the concentration of the insecticidal mix that will result from the mixing Flies on Pastured Cattle 4 directions that follow. Horn Flies 4 There are several hundred trade names of livestock insecticides Face Flies 9 sold in Kansas, and obviously, not all can be listed here. Reference Stable Flies (on pastured cattle) 10 to trade names in this publication is done only to identify Horse Flies and Deer Flies 11 commonly available chemical compounds for educational purposes and is not intended to imply endorsement or Feedlot Fly Control 12 discrimination by the Kansas State University Agricultural Stable Flies 12 Experiment Station and Cooperative Extension Service. House Flies 12 The insecticides listed in this publication have been registered Other Pests 15 by the Environmental Protection Agency and the State of Kansas, Cattle Grubs 15 based on evidence submitted by the manufacturers, and are judged both safe and effective when used under label-specified Lice 17 conditions. The recommendations made in this bulletin are valid Cattle Scabies 19 at the time of publication. However, any chemical use is subject Ticks 20 to change or withdrawal at any time. County agents and dealers Gulf Coast Tick, Spinose Ear Tick are advised when and if such changes occur. (and Lone Star Tick in Ears) 21 Materials mentioned as Restricted Use Pesticides are for Screwworms and Other application only by Certified Private Applicators or Commercial Blow Fly Larvae 22 Pesticide Applicators certified in livestock pesticide application. Insecticide Names 23 Need for Control In nature, every animal is provider for an array of insect and In addition to these direct losses, many bovine diseases such mite parasites that use its hair coat for shelter and its skin or as bluetongue, pinkeye, epizootic bovine abortion, and blood for food. Many of these insects use animal manure and anaplasmosis are transmitted by insects. bedding as a medium in which the immature stages develop. The USDA has estimated that insect and mite pests cause The more animals are concentrated together in herds or lots, the $2.2 billion annual loss to the cattle industry in this country. The greater their attraction is to insect pests and the more easily author of this booklet estimates direct loss to Kansas beef flies, lice, ticks, and mange mites or scabies can move from one production from insects and mites is $130 to $150 million animal to another. This not only increases direct nuisance and annually. damage from insect and mite feeding, but also increases the Fortunately, eliminating the cost of damage from pests does spread of diseases. not require total elimination of the pests. (The screwworm So, the potential benefits of animal husbandry, in which eradication program is a notable exception.) A low number of large numbers of livestock are confined to pens or pastures, can lice, flies or ticks does not cause measurable loss of production. be realized only if insect and mite infestations are kept in Employing costly pesticides in time-consuming applications is check. unwise unless pest numbers threaten to exceed the economic Insects, ticks and mites cause losses to the beef industry injury level. through reduced efficiency of feed conversion, reduced weight Economic injury level is defined as the lowest number or gain and milk production, increased meat trim, hide losses and, density of a pest that will cause damage equal to the cost of occasionally, death of the animal. preventing that damage. These losses result from blood loss, irritation, annoyance, The economic threshold is the stage of a pest population’s behavior of animals to avoid the discomfort of insect attack, development which indicates that, with reasonable expected insect contamination of meat, and damage to hides and skin population growth and/or development, the economic injury prior to slaughter. level will be reached or passed. These concepts are variations of the age-old “law of diminishing returns” applied to pest management. 2 Outdated Publication, for historical use. CAUTION: Recommendations in this publication may be obsolete. Methods and Management The first act of livestock management—the domestication and confinement of animals —tends to increase insect and mite pest problems. For both humane and economic considerations, it is the stockman’s challenge to counteract such problems. Good management must be based on good information, including a thorough understanding of many interrelated items. The total livestock management system must provide for the following: Financing Health care A source of quality livestock Personnel Shelter and spatial arrangement Schedules Nutrition This means personnel and equipment must be provided to accomplish the following activities: Purchasing and marketing Breeding and genetic management Livestock handling (squeeze chutes, Pasture and range management loading chutes, scales, fences, pens, Feed storage and handling gates, alleyways, barns, etc.) Water supply Manure handling Doctoring and pest management Pesticide storage, application and cleanup Record-keeping on most of the above Many of the items listed above have implications for pest management. For example, the purchase of infested animals, overcrowding, poor nutrition, and inadequate manure handling all contribute to serious insect and mite problems. Sloppy feed handling and overfilled watering facilities create fly-breeding environments. Poorly trained or insufficient personnel let problems go undetected or make inappropriate or ill-timed attempts to solve them. Successful pest management in beef production is not a separate “add-on” operation. It is the product of avoiding or reducing opportunities for pests through overall management, combined with sanitation practices and wise pesticide use aimed at maintaining pest populations below economic injury levels. Successful pest management in beef production is not a separate “add-on” operation. It is the product of avoiding or reducing opportunities for pests through overall management, combined with sanitation practices and wise pesticide use aimed at maintaining pest populations below economic injury levels. metamorphosis. Some insects with chewing mouthparts, e.g. Pest Biology, Ecology the cattle biting louse, also develop in this way, as do mange mites. In a given species, because immature forms have the Incorporating good pest management into the framework of same kind of mouthparts as adults, they feed in a similar good production management also requires a knowledge of the manner. Eggs, nymphs, and adults of lice and scabies mites are pests. What are they? Where do they come from? How do they all found on the animals’ skin or hair coat. Control with multiply? How do they behave? And how is their presence pesticides necessarily includes direct application to the animal. reflected in cattle behavior? In other words, we need to None of the cattle parasites that undergo gradual metamorphosis understand insect and mite biology and ecology. ever have wings. The only way such pests can move from animal Four factors that make each pest species different from all to animal is by crawling. Such transfer happens primarily when others are: its life cycle (the way it develops), its mobility (the animals are in direct contact with one another at feed bunks or way it moves in various stages), how it feeds, and what it feeds during breeding, nursing, crowding or shipping. In a “closed herd” on. The three latter factors may be different for each life stage system, eradication of such pest species can be maintained. within the same species. Flies, mosquitoes, and many other insects undergo complete metamorphosis or growth and development including dramatic change. Typically, eggs are laid, tiny worm-like creatures hatch, Insect Growth and Development and several worm-like larval stages occur as the insects grow Biologists have named several different strategies for growth toward winged adulthood. When each larva attains full growth, it and development. Among these, two are sufficient to describe enters into a resting stage called a pupa. The pupa may be protected the life cycles of insect and mite pests of beef cattle. by a thin shell called a puparium. When the pupal period has Gradual metamorphosis is the term describing a moderate passed, the emerging adult looks nothing at all like it had as a larva. change in which immature insects somewhat resemble the In immature insects undergoing complete metamorphosis, adult form when they hatch from eggs. As the insect grows, it the mouthparts are usually very different from those of adults goes through three