An integrated approach is required for fly control in stables

Whether they're a general nuisance or disease carriers, it's essential that flies are controlled throughout their life cycle, writes Dr Mac.

- Dr Mac

During hot, humid summer weather, all sorts of flies emerge and become a real nuisance in stables, aiding outbreaks of fly-borne disease in horses. It's essential that flies are controlled throughout their life cycle. The first step is to focus on breeding sites.

Flies lay their eggs in rotting manure and, after hatching, the larvae crawl into damp soil or rotting manure, then pupate. Over winter, these pupae remain safe underground or in manure heaps, and when warm weather comes, they emerge as houseflies or biting flies.

Both sorts of flies can cause and transmit diseases, not only in horses, but also in humans.

Houseflies carry disease-causing organisms onto horse and human food and can also transmit disease by sitting on the lips or eyelids of a dozing horse or human.

Biting flies suck up blood and transmit diseases when they spit their infected saliva onto a different horse before they start feeding.