We’re not talking about flies that have to go to a psychiatrist for mental health issues. Buzzers that are so normal, other insects think of them as mentors because they’re stable in the brain department. Nothing like the menacing ones that are always lounging around in the head shrinker’s chair, grousing about how they were mistreated when they were maggots.

No. What we’re getting at are flies that hang around places where you keep your horses. The little SOB’s that suck the blood from your prized stallions. These trouble-makers have the potential to stunt the mare’s growth. Beasts that can give Trigger digestive problems. Airborne critters that hurt the horse when they bite. Those stable flies get us in pest control fired up!

Controlling Stable Flies

The first thing you’re going to need to do is all up-to-you. Would you like to live in a dirty ol’ barn? Of course not. Put your four-legged transportation vehicle out to pasture for a while and clean up the place. It’s a breeding site for these vampires. You’re going to need to find their breeding spots and blast them off to fly Valhalla.

Then, every week, clean out the stable, corral or barn. You want to screw-up the life-cycle of the creature that’s paining your pony. Shovel out the manure. Put it in your compost bin, in a galaxy far, far away. As manure dries with the other organic materials in the collection site it becomes a bad breeding ground. Better yet, feed the back 40 of your garden with their poop. Makes plants happy and when their happy, those tomatoes are going to taste much better.

Make sure you have a drainage plan, too. That way, in the future, any rotting, uneaten feed, straw and hay and wet manure will be easily hosed down on your regular clean up. Pay attention to their drinking areas as stable flies get thirsty.

Going Low Tech

Vulcan Termite and Pest Control, Inc. has some tips that are mechanical things you should incorporate into your scheme to keep your horse-house stable fly free.

• There are products we can steer you toward which is a thing known as a predatory fly parasite. It’s a program that infects the stable flies and makes them go permanently bye-bye.
• Get a couple of heavy-duty electric fans that throw the air outside. The wind will literally blow the little Draculas away.
• Here’s a project for you: Screen the whole place so there are no wide-open ways for the stable flies from entering in the first place.
• Hang a bunch of sticky fly traps around the interior. It’s not necessarily a way to totally eliminate the biting bugs. But it is a barometer of whether your grand plan is working. Inspect them to determine whether there are a lot of insects pasted to the paper. The body count will tell you that there’s more work to do on your end. A little indicator that, you may have things under control: No flies at all? Success!

Vulcan Termite and Pest Control, Inc. wants to leave you with a filthy fun fact. A horse that weighs a half-ton expels around 50-pounds of manure every day. Start practicing good barn techniques by removing the poop as soon as you can.

Who knows. If you’ve got enough horses, you’ve just stumbled across a new entrepreneurial venture. Selling horse crap to avid gardeners. The stuff is gold. And the proceeds could go into the care and feeding of your first love, those majestic animals.

Original Source: https://www.vulcantermite.com/garden-pest-control/stable-flies

Image Source: http://www.letstalkhorses.co.uk