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We have come through a very mild winter and are off to an early spring with record setting high temperatures. A negative affect is an early emergence of flies. This will be a year where an integrated fly control program will be needed for effective fly control. The tools for fly control include sanitation, feed through products, sprays, dust, rubs, fly tags and various fly traps. Determine which fly is the problem because control measures will vary by species. The early warm temperatures may allow the fly population to get an earlier than normal start. Below is a description of the common flies that impact cattle performance.

Horn Fly Face Fly   House Fly Stable Fly

First, determine which fly species you are fighting by looking at the size of the fly and where are they breeding and laying eggs. The most economically significant pasture fly is the Horn Fly. The Horn Fly spends the majority of time on the animal and lays eggs in fresh manure. It is the smallest of the common flies, but cause significant stress and discomfort to the animal. The Face Fly is much larger and also breeds in manure, but can spend a significant amount of time off the animal. The House Fly and Stable Fly are attracted to the animal, but spend most of their time in surrounding areas such as barns and decomposing feed. The House and Stable Fly will breed in manure, wet areas and any composted material. 

Second, determine where the flies are feeding and nesting. The Horn Fly is a blood feeder and will be on the back and withers of the animal and move to the lower flank and underside during the times of full sun. They take a blood meal 30 to 40 times per day and spend the majority of their adult life on the animal. The Horn Fly’s mouth part is a slicing and suction type which causes multiple painful lacerations in a single bite. The blood loss can be significant. 

The female Face Fly feeds on the mucus secretions around the nose, eyes and mouth. Face Flies are often a vector in a breakout of pink eye. The male Face Fly stays in the vegetation and feeds on plant nectars and fecal material. The female spends the night on vegetation. The Face Fly is not a blood feeder, but they do lay their eggs in manure. 

The House Fly is an annoyance fly. They have a sponging mouth part and do not bite. They feed on multiple items with a preference for carbohydrate-rich feeds. They lay their eggs in decaying and composted material such as manure laden bedding backs. 

The Stable Fly is a biting and blood feeding fly. They feed on any warm blooded animal. They have a piercing mouth part which resembles a hypodermic needle. The Stable Fly tends to prefer the underside and legs of the animal. Stomping and jumping are often associated with Stable Fly bites. They lay their eggs in decaying and composted material such as manure laden bedding backs, wasted hay or silages.

Control Measures

Sanitation and Weed Control

Removal of decaying and composted material is needed to eliminate the breeding area of the House and Stable Fly. Frequent mowing and weed control around buildings can help control the Face Fly breeding and nesting areas.

Knock Down and Residual Sprays

Existing adult populations will need to be eliminated by using repeated knock down sprays. The time for eggs to hatch will vary from 10 to 14 days. Sprays may be needed for the first few weeks of the fly season. This will allow time for other measures such as feed through products and pour on products to control the developing fly population.

Topical Fly Control

Rubs, oilers and dusters can be used in areas where the animal has frequent access to the devices. Fly tags and pour on products can provide additional protection for various lengths depending on product type.

Fly Traps and Bait

Traps and bait are affective for only the Stable and House Fly. These flies will be in buildings and seek out nesting sites. The Horn Fly and Face Fly typically are not attracted to these control measures since they are nesting in other areas. 

Feed Through Products  

Rabon^® Oral Larvicide is a feed through product that kills the larva stage of the Horn, Face, Stable and House Fly that lay their eggs in manure. Altosid® IGR is a (S)-methopene feed through product that prevents the Horn Fly larva from developing into adult flies. Altosid^® IGR does not control Face, Stable or House Flies. These products can be safely fed to beef cattle and dairy cattle in various feeds and supplements. The active ingredient is consumed by the animal and passes through in manure where it prevents the development of larva into adult flies. CRYSTALYX^® Brand Supplements offer a protein and mineral formula which contains either Rabon^® or Altosid^® IGR. Learn more information about Rolyx^® Pro and Rolyx^® Max products that contain Rabon^® or IGR Pro™ and IGR Max™ which contains Altosid^®.

Rabon^® is a registered trademark of Bayer HealthCare LLC, Animal Health Division, Shawnee Mission, KS.

Altosid^® IGR is a registered trademark of Wellmark International, Schaumburg, IL.

Congratulations! You made it through one of the worst droughts on record. Now that the rains have come and the grass is green again, your worries are over, right? Wrong! Now your livestock are picking up all of the parasites that lay dormant all of those months of drought. Are you ready?

Many common internal parasites including brown stomach worm (Ostertagia spp), barber pole worm (Haemonchus spp) and Coccidia (Eimeria spp) will be more prevalent after a drought. To understand why, we need to have a basic understanding of the lifecycles. While two of these parasites are worms and one is a protozoan, they all have the same basic type of lifecycle. These parasites mature inside of the host’s body and either shed oocysts or eggs via the manure. During their normal lifecycle, these hatch and eventually result in an infective stage that travels up the forages where the host animal (cattle, sheep or goat) ingests it to continue the parasitic cycle.

The catch is that these require a specific temperature and moisture level in order to hatch. When moisture isn’t available, they go into a suspended state waiting for rain. During a drought, the parasites within the animals’ bodies are still churning out eggs and oocysts; however, those that land on the pastures aren’t hatching. They just build up. After an extended drought, the parasitic challenge can be dozens of times higher due to these all hatching at the same time after a good rain. This, coupled with short pastures, ensures infection to continue the parasitic cycle.

So what can you do about it? First of all, be sure to deworm with a product like Safe-guard^® for control of internal parasites and provide a coccidia treatment to all of your livestock this spring. But don’t be surprised if your animals show signs of parasitic disease even when treated. The size of the challenge may be so great that treatments alone cannot prevent disease. Sanitation and management are going to be critical this year. Don’t skimp on high quality mineral and vitamin supplementation either! When it comes to supplementation, you really do get what you pay for. Trace minerals, particularly copper and zinc, are critical for the integrity of the mucosal lining of the digestive tract that these parasites are attacking. Additionally, they are key elements in other immunological defenses of the body. It is a well-known fact that well-fed animals recover much more quickly than livestock receiving a poor diet.

Since you know the parasite surge is coming, prepare now to give each calf, lamb or kid the best chance at survival!

Safe-guard^® is a registered trademark of Merck Animal Health, Summit, NJ.

Once the bulls have been turned out and your herd has settled into their summer grazing routine, it’s easy to overlook some of the more obvious management clues when monitoring your cow herd.  Although beef cows can be very forgiving at times, it is much more difficult to catch-up if you avoid timely management corrections.  Below are a few summer time management reminders to help you stay on top of your herd and maintain performance that ensures profitable returns.
 
1. Forage availability:  Do your cows have an unlimited supply of forage available for grazing?  Depending upon your grazing system, in most situations a good benchmark is to adhere to the rule of “graze half – leave half.”  If your pastures are beginning to look like a parking lot, you are probably affecting two things; cow and calf performance in addition to future pasture productivity!  Be sure to make timely decisions in moving cattle to new pastures once depleted and/or introduce supplementation programs that maximize forage utilization.  The southern U.S. is currently in a severe drought and forage availability will dictate stocking rates, culling rates and supplement programs that are used to best manage the cow herd.

2. Forage quality:  As temperatures increase and summer moisture conditions diminish, grasses mature more quickly along with a reduction in forage quality.  Protein supplementation is especially helpful when these conditions exist to help maintain both cow and calf performance.  The additional protein should be a good source of ruminally degradable protein in order to maximize microbial fermentation.  The goal is to maximize fiber digestibility that extracts the full energy potential of forage diet.  This is where a little protein can go a long way in maintaining cow weight and body condition.
 
3. Mineral and vitamin supplement access:  Make sure your herd has access to a free-choice mineral and vitamin supplement while on pasture.  Many areas of the U.S. or different seasons of the year, lend themselves to nutrient deficiencies that can limit cow herd reproductive efficiencies or negatively impact cow/calf health or performance.  Some examples can include:

• Copper deficiencies or antagonisms that reduce trace mineral utilization
• Low Magnesium levels in lush spring pastures or forages high in potassium content that interfere with Magnesium utilization can lead to grass Tetany
• Endophyte infected fescue pastures
• Selenium deficient soils
• Low phosphorus forages
• Water sources that are high in sulfates which can interfere with trace mineral absorption
• Other nutrient imbalances or antagonisms from soil, water or forages

 
4. Don’t neglect your mineral/vitamin feeders:  It is extremely easy to let free-choice mineral feeders go empty for extended periods of time.  This causes highly erratic intakes in vitamin and mineral consumption as cattle go without and then over consume when finally given access to fresh mineral.  Consistent mineral absorption is better achieved when consumption is also consistent.  Large amounts of mineral are wasted via excretion when excessive mineral intakes occur.  Make sure free-choice supplements are meeting intake expectations and are available at all times to limit waste and maximize animal performance on pasture.
 
5. Feed-through fly control:  An easy and effective way to manage flies and improve calf weaning weights on pasture is with a feed-through larvacide or insect growth regulator.  Although the specific fly species that are controlled will vary depending upon the product, the principle in delivery is the same for each type.  Animals need consistent delivery of either larvacide or insect growth regulator to keep adult fly populations in check.  This can only be accomplished if the free-choice product that contains these additives is consumed early in the fly season and then consistently provided throughout the fly season without interruption.   It is closely related to the previous discussion on free-choice vitamins and minerals as these are used most often as their method of delivery.  It is also a great opportunity to use a highly palatable product like CRYSTALYX^® low-moisture block supplements because of their ability to provide consistent uniform daily intakes.  If you plan to invest in a feed-through fly control program, be sure to manage intakes for optimal performance.
 
6. Provide a balanced nutrition program:  A balanced nutrition program is a key part of maintaining herd health and productivity.  While pastures provide much of the dietary requirements for the cow herd certain environmental, seasonal or geographical factors can lend themselves to unique health, performance or reproductive challenges.  Most cattlemen will agree that treating cattle on pasture is a labor intense activity that should be avoided whenever possible.  Some common health issues where prevention is surely preferable over treatment include: Frothy Bloat, Grass Tetany, Pink Eye or Foot Rot to name a few.  Genetic and reproductive goals also influence nutritional program inputs as to the level of supplemental nutrition required to meet the production demands specific to your cow herd.  Shorting your herd in nutrient inputs opens the door for these health issues to creep in and chip away at your profitability.
 
Frequently check your cow herd and pasture conditions to be sure they are meeting your production goals.  It is much easier and almost always much more economical to make small, timely adjustments than to wait too long and shift from a preventive mode to a treatment or rescue situation.  Long-term profitability is at the top of the list for herd goals and small investments that maintain productivity usually pay dividends at weaning!

It’s a little hard for those of us in the upper Midwest to think about fly control…there are still piles of snow on the ground! Nevertheless, fly season is just around the corner for us and has already started for producers further south.

Flies can be a pain, literally and figuratively. But did you know they can cost you money too?  Horn files in particular mean blood loss to your cattle, which results in lower performance from your cows (i.e. milk production) and lower weaning weights by 12 to 14 pounds (dollars in your pocket). On average, flies cost the cattle industry $800 million annually.

For a fly control program to really be effective, timing is everything. The best way to get the flies is to use a feed-through fly control supplement before they are going to be a problem; usually 30 days before the last frost in the spring. From the map below, you can see that those down in the Gulf and Southeastern states are already well into fly season. Those of us further north still have a month or so to prepare.

Feed-through fly control additives, like Rabon^® or Altosid^®, work in the manure of treated cattle to break the lifecycle between larvae and adult stages. Since horn flies only lay their eggs in fresh manure, it’s a great way to help control fly populations. It’s important to keep in mind that even though you’re feeding a fly control supplement that existing adult flies will not be controlled by the supplement and that sometimes a knock-down treatment is required at the start of your feed-through supplement program.

CRYSTALYX^® offers Rabon^® and Altosid^® in both protein and mineral supplements. The added benefit of CRYSTALYX^®’s proven consistent, whole-herd intake means that your cattle will get the right dose every time. Not to mention complete mineral and vitamin supplementation with ROLYX^® MAX or IGR MAX™ and added protein with ROLYX^® PRO and IGR PRO™. For more information on fly control products and programs from CRYSTALYX^®, select the “Proven Results” bar at the top of the page and select “Fly Control”.

Rabon^® is a registered trademark of KMG Chemicals, Inc, Houston, TX.
Altosid^® is a registered trademark of Wellmark International, Shamburg, IL.