“Fly Predators work better than anything else we’ve tried. Even with the heavy rains last summer, we still had good control, while others in the area had unbearable flies. Our milk production stayed steady throughout the year too.”
—Theresa and Delmar Westaby, C-R View Dairy Stockton, IL, Organic Valley Dairy Members
The best way to control pest flies is to eliminate them before they ever emerge. That way they never get a chance to reproduce. By starting regular weekly Fly Predator releases just as the weather turns warm and continuing until it cools down, you can “manage” your flies and keep their population from ever becoming a big nuisance.
Complement this by making the “hot spot” fly breeding areas on your farm unsuitable for fly reproduction. You’ll even further reduce the fly population while using the most cost-effective number of Fly Predators. The economics can be quite attractive and so can enjoying the summer with very few flies. The proverbial ounce of prevention can mean many extra pounds of milk and weight gain, too.
For most confinement dairies 1,000 Fly Predators per animal, per month provides good control. For Graziers and Organic dairies, 1,500 Fly Predators per animal are suggested and for feedlots 750 per head. If you are using our Cow Vac to control Horn flies from the pastures, then 1,000 per cow is recommended. Some customers have reported satisfactory results using less than these amounts while others utilize double this to reduce all flies to the minimum. This works out to between $.87 to $3.00 per animal per month during the warm months depending on quantity ordered and usage rate.
The biggest variable for how many Fly Predators are required is manure management and sanitation at each facility. It is not hard to make a facility sub-optimal for fly reproduction, but is even easier to do nothing and make it an optimal fly factory. Additional milk production, weight gain or less doctoring needed with hardly any flies may more than pay for your Fly Predators. Good fly control can make you money!