Fly Control Services
Shepton’s Vet Techs can reduce the disruption and diseases that that flies bring during the summer. We supply effective products that target different stages of the fly life cycle. Integrated fly management programmes, that utilise both chemical and biological methods of control are proven to be most successful at reducing fly populations.
We want to reduce the nuisance caused by flies to you and your livestock. Our Vet Techs can deliver and distribute the products below for you throughout the season.
Fly Control Services lead by Jamie Cowling
Supported by Jade Sealey and Jo Dunn
Fly parasites
Chemical free, biological parasite control, used on more and more farms with brilliant results. Farms using fly parasites report less bad eyes and fly -bother in their cattle.
What are fly parasites?
They are tiny, 2mm, insects from the wasp family that do not sting and are too small to cause any annoyance. Fly parasites parasitise nuisance and biting flies in a clever way.
How do fly parasites work?
Following distribution on farm, fly parasites hatch and reproduce, they lay their eggs within nuisance and biting fly pupae. As these eggs hatch, they kill the fly larvae by eating them, preventing them developing into adult flies.
Instead of nuisance flies hatching, a new fly parasite will hatch. The fly parasite’s life cycle continues as the newly hatched fly parasite lays more eggs in more nuisance fly pupae!
One fly parasite lives 3 – 4 weeks and kills roughly 100 fly pupae during its lifetime.
With up to 80% of nuisance flies on farm being in pupae form, targeting this stage rather than waiting for problematic adult flies to hatch is a very effective fly control measure.
Fly Boards
These are made in- house, they are large, fly attracting
blue boards that use bait to attract flies to them.
These are not waterproof.
They are best placed in sheds or high up in parlours.
Fly bait buckets
These are waterproof and protected from the weather, meaning they can be positioned near openings into sheds or in the parlour. The buckets are filled with a liquid to entice the flies through funnels, which once they have entered, they cannot leave. Refills are available.
Bio Mites
These can be used to control a fly breakdown. When fly numbers are extremely high and unmanageable fortnightly treatments with mites can reduce numbers. The mites reduce fly numbers by consuming fly eggs. Each pack treats 250 cubic metres, an average calf shed, half an average collecting yard or a reasonable area of cubicle or straw housing. Our Vet Techs will determine how many are needed.
Spot – on treatments (Spotinor)
Stocked in our dispensary and competitively priced. We advise starting treatment before flies emerge, these products will then stop flies landing on cows to begin with and travelling to farmyard areas where they can breed. When applied early in the season spot – on is more likely to last 6 weeks.
