One of livestock's greatest aggravation is the stable fly. These insects prey upon confined animals throughout the world. In appearance, they look similar to a house fly except their mouthparts are adapted for biting and sucking blood. The stable fly feeds by using it's beak to break the skin, then sucking the blood of it's victim. Surprisingly to most, females usually only live up to a month. She will require several feedings to continue egg production.
The maggot (immature fly) likes to breed in decaying organic matter. Adult flies have been known to travel several miles to feed. With that in mind, it becomes difficult to control fly population simply by removing their local breeding areas. Repellants and insecticides are really the only way to handle the problem.
The amount of stress flies put on our animals is significant- please do not underestimate that. Just imagine the nuisance that they are to us- horses only have their tails to shoo them away. Let's help our equine buddies out this season by making sure they are comfortable with a high quality repellant. Now get out there and ride!!
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