Many fly species can buzz around your horses, irritating them and affecting the equines’ health and well-being. Here, learn why purchasing fly control products from your local garden center is so essential to barn life. These, along with manual control methods, significantly reduce the number of flies annoying your horses daily.

Why It’s Important

Flies can transmit a variety of diseases to your equine friends by biting them and feeding on their nasal discharge, manure, eye secretions, cuts, and scrapes. The horse fly, for example, bites horses, resulting in irritating wounds that can become infected and cause hair loss, skin thickening, and hives.

Other species such as house and face flies deposit parasitic nematode larvae into moist areas of the horse’s body such as the nostrils, causing chronic wounds known as summer sores because the larvae cannot “grow up.”

They move around the nostrils or other areas instead, resulting in wounds that get progressively worse. Without fly control, different species of the pest insect can transmit other diseases, including external abscesses known as pigeon fever, and eye worms.

What You Can Do

Keep flies from attacking your horses with repelling sprays, flypaper, traps, and other species-specific control products from your local garden center. Ask about other livestock supplies that protect horses, such as flywear, or masks that shield equine heads, including the eyes and ears.

If they do sustain fly bites, use roll-on products and other topical agents that soothe wounds and prevent infection. Also, equip your barn with fans to discourage flies from entering. Use manual fly control methods as well, such as mucking out stalls daily to avoid attracting the insects with manure.

Apply a plastic cover to composting manure bins and encourage fast drying by spreading the waste thinly on pasture as far away from your horses as possible. Mow the grass often since flies enjoy the shade of tall grass blades. You may also want to employ biological control methods by releasing fly predators. 

Find the livestock supplies you need to prevent fly invasions at Bethel Feed & Supply Pet & Garden Center. Serving Clermont, Brown, and Hamilton Counties in Ohio since 1858, you’ll find pet and farm supplies here, as well as garden and hunting supplies. Call the garden center today at (513) 734-2246 with questions or visit the website for more about livestock products. Like the garden center on Facebook for more pet and farm animal tips.