Finding the best fly traps for your horse farm doesn’t have to cause frustration, even though there are many to choose from. Stick to a mixture of traditional, simple traps, that always make a dent in the fly population and more modern designs. If in doubt, don’t hesitate to ask for advice.
Here we will cover some of the best fly trap options and why using fly control on your farm is so important.
Every horse farm needs to implement some kind of fly control. Flies, especially horse flies, are incredibly irritating for your horse. Humans too! They bite and sting, cause allergic reactions in some horses, and they spread disease. Some horses are also allergic to the saliva of gnats (midges), which causes them to itch so badly that they will rub their tail raw. This is called sweet itch.
Why You Need Fly Control
● Here are just a few of the diseases and illnesses that flies can transmit to your horse.
● Pigeon fever – Pigeon fever is caused by the Corynebacterium pseudotuberculosis, which flies transmit.
● E-coli and salmonella are transmitted by flies when they land on a surface. This can then infect humans around the farm that might use equipment that these flies landed on.
● Equine infectious anemia
● Sarcoids – A highly respected UK vet has found a link between flies and equine sarcoids. This research further confirmed that bovine papillomaviruses are the leading cause of sarcoids. Flies land on the horse and spread the bovine papillomavirus. Sarcoids are not benign and need quick treatment by a veterinarian before they cause more severe problems.
● Eye infections and irritated eyes
● Skin disorders
● The irritation flies cause can raise the heart rate and blood cortisol levels and reduce the amount your horse grazes.
● Summer sores – These are caused by Habronema spp. Nematodes a type of worm that transmits to the horse from flies
● Bots
While you will never get rid of every fly, reducing them will significantly decrease disease risks for horses and humans on the farm and in conjunction with using fly masks for horses on your farm. It will help keep everyone much more comfortable..
Finding The Best Fly Traps
Your local farm supply store is an excellent place to start. Flies are a problem that all kinds of farms need to deal with. These stores will have the most up-to-date knowledge about the best fly traps and offer other management tips.
Another good way to find the best fly traps is to talk to your fellow horse farm owners and to check the reviews of the different products available.
Ready To Use Fly Traps
The purpose of a fly trap is to capture and kill adult flies. They allow you to control flies around your farm without the use of chemicals. In some people’s opinions, traps tend to attract filth flies, the type of flies you don’t want around. Some might feel this only encourages more of these types of flies to assemble on your farm.
You will need different types of traps to target the variety of flies on your farm, such as house and stable flies.
Epps Biting Fly Trap
This is an interesting type of trap that is good for outdoor spaces, such as your pastures. The Epps trap uses no chemicals and is aimed at biting flies. It is large and dark, which makes it appear like a host to the flies. When flies attempt to land, they get knocked into a tray of soapy water, killing them.
The Epps is relatively expensive, but one trap can take care of several acres and kill as many as one pound of flies per day.
Starbar Fly Terminator Pro
The Starbar is a smaller, cheaper, and easy to manage fly trap. This trap is a one-gallon size jug with a handle that you can strategically hang around the farm. The trap does not use any insecticides and is reusable. Flies are attracted to this trap by smell.
Fly Paper
Fly paper has been around for a long time and is one of the cheapest ways to trap flies inside stables, even though they are a bit unsightly. Each sheet can trap thousands of flies, and they are non-toxic, which is an excellent feature for something around your animals.
You will also find the type of paper that comes in a small tube and spirals out into sticky ribbons. These are best for hanging from high areas around your barns and sheds.
Big Bag Fly Trap
The Big Bag Fly Trap can capture up to 40,000 flies per bag. You place the bait in the bag to attract the flies. This is not poisonous, so it is a safe option for around the farm. The bait has a strong smell, so you will probably prefer to hang it in outdoor areas.
Homemade Fly Traps
Setting fly traps regularly around your horse farm can get expensive. One way to help reduce your costs is to incorporate some homemade fly traps. One easy trap to make only requires a few parts and costs next to nothing.
Take an old plastic jug, such as a gallon milk bottle, and cut it, making the bottom half slightly longer than the top. Place some sugar water, honey, or horse manure in the bottom half. Then add about a cup of soapy water. Put the top part into the bottom half (having turned it upside down). Then tape it up and put some holes in the top half before using string to hang it up.
Other Fly Control Management
In addition, to fly traps around your horse farm, you can implement other management techniques to reduce the population. One of the most attractive things on a horse farm for flies is manure.
Keeping your stables and pastures free of manure will significantly reduce the number of flies around your farm. Clean these areas at least once a day during the fly season. Place your manure pile as far away from the main horse areas as possible. Get your manure pile removed as often as you can, ideally once a week.
If you can’t remove your manure pile as often as weekly, get it treated. A suitable treatment method for manure piles is to use fly predators. These are parasitic wasps that are extremely small and harmless. However, they feed off the fly pupa as a host. This prevents new flies from hatching, breaking the lifecycle.
Conclusion
Finding the best fly traps for your horse farm is easy. There are many different options available, most of them reasonably inexpensive. If possible, try to use traps that are safe around animals. Chemicals and poison can potentially harm your horses, dogs, and other animals that live on your farm.
When looking for the right traps, take note of the types of flies on your farm. Then choose a couple of different kinds of traps so you can target the problem pests.