You could say Todd Firkins of Bayer Animal Health is passionate about killing bloodsucking parasites – flies, that is. He’s well-versed in the types of flies that can bedevil your cattle or dairy herd as well as the damage they can cause when an infestation gets out of hand.
“It costs the industry millions every year,” he said. “Major fly problems start early in the spring and, if you don’t take care of them right away, they can quickly suck a big chunk out of your profit margin.”
Firkins talked about cattle going off feed when a fly problem reaches a crisis point. “Cattle will bunch up in the shade with their heads down and spend all their energy trying to ward off flies. Yearlings won’t put on as much weight and cows will produce less milk for their young – plus they’re exposed to all the diseases these bloodsucking parasites can carry.”
Talking about the economic loss, Firkins said, “Yearlings can suffer up to 18-20 or more ‘blood meals’ a day from each horn fly. These can easily be diagnosed as they will form “patches of flies” behind the shoulders and back about the size of the palm of your hand – which is about 100 or more horn flies. When you see this many –they have breached an economic threshold- you can bet that they are carving away your profits. It’s important that you do something about it.”
“Flies are not just a problem on pastures.A heavy house fly problem around barns and other buildings can create contamination issues, cause problems with your neighbors, and invite unwanted complaints. This makes a fly management program a critical part of any animal agriculture operation.”
The first step in protecting your livestock and operation is knowing the enemy. Correctly identifying the pest means knowing the difference between horn flies, face flies, stable flies and house flies.
Once you’ve identified the source of the problem, Firkins said you can start to develop an integrated pest management program by selecting the right management practices, choosing the correct insecticides and knowing when, where and how to apply them.
“You have to take into consideration that only 15% of the house fly population are adults - and you have a new generation about every 14 days,” said Firkins. “A single insecticide may not be enough to manage an infestation. We at Bayer provide a full line of insecticides to use in an integrated pest management program.”
Bayer Animal Health, which traces its roots back to 1897, has done a huge amount of fly control research and also has access to ample university research. Firkins said Bayer’s concern was that many cattlemen get too busy and don’t pay enough attention to the horn flies on their cattle or to the damage that a house fly infestation can cause – until it’s too late. Making information available in a format that is easily accessible was the driver behind developing the new website, FlyControlCenter.com.
FlyControlCenter.com is a central repository for all kinds of articles about flies and fly management programs, whether they come from Bayer Animal Health or another source.
“It’s an online library of information,” said Firkins. “We’re contributing content, of course, but the day-to-day management comes from Drovers CattleNetwork. They comb through all of the available material from every news source and post it on the website. In a real sense, it’s their news service and we’re the proud sponsor.”
A quick review of the news items currently posted on the site includes a variety of subjects like a story on the ‘Damage and Management of Face Flies’ and papers on ‘Controlling Stable Flies,’ ‘Horn Fly Economics’ and a ‘Description of Black Flies.’ You can even find information that will help you correctly identify the four most common types of flies by their anatomy and food sources.
Firkins mentioned an additional service offered by the web site. “There are thousands of folks across the country that do not have easy access to information or the products they need for a fly control program. The information base they need is located on FlyControlCenter.com, and when it’s time to ‘go shopping’ for fly control products, the CattleStore is just a click away. It’s open 24 hours a day.All the products are there to purchase, and they will ship straight to the ranch.”