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A History of Innovation and Effectiveness
The Leader in Pest Management
Horn Fly, Haematobia irritans
• Of the 4 species shown, the smallest is the most
economically damaging to the cattle industry.
HORN
FLY
FACE
FLY
HOUSE
FLY
STABLE
FLY
Pasture flies
Feedlot flies
Manure breeders
Manure/Compost breeders
Commonly Considered
Economic Losses
• Anaplasmosis
$300 MM/yr1
• Bovine Respiratory
Disease
over $1
Billion/year2
• None of these are the greatest threat to
pastured cattle
1http://www.inspection.ge.ca/english/animal/leasan/disemala/anaplasmos/consult2007/anaplas4e.shtml
2http://www.ars.usda.gov/is/np/ha/han16.htm
Horn Fly, Haematobia irritans
• The horn fly costs the industry over $1 billion per
year and is North America’s most pervasive and
costly external cattle parasite.1
1http://www.csrees.usda.gov/funding/nri/highlights/2002)no3.pdf
Understanding the Enemy
Horn Fly, Haematobia irritans
• Small, black flies; 4mm long
(about half the size of house flies)
• Both sexes are blood feeders
• Remain on cattle day and night
• Adult flies lives 10 – 20 days
• Mate on animals
• Leave hosts to lay eggs in fresh
manure less than 5 minutes old
• Not strong flies
The Horn Fly Life Cycle
• A single female may lay 400-500 eggs in fresh
manure in her lifetime.
• The egg to adult cycle takes10-20 days
depending on the climate.
Horn Fly Emergence
• Populations peak in early summer and a second
peak occurs in fall (moisture related).
How Horn Flies Affect Cattle
Economic Threshold
• 1,000 – 4,000 flies
per cow are
common at peak
times.
• University data
says 200 flies per
beef cow is the
economic
threshold.
EXCELLENT
AVERAGE TO BELOW
GOOD
UNACCEPTABLE
Weight Issues
• Cattle heavily attacked by horn flies may suffer
loss of 0.5 pound of flesh per day and milk
production may be reduced from 10 to 20
percent.1
• Additional studies show reduction in gain
between .2 to .4 lbs per head per day (stocker
cattle).
• Loss of body condition.
1
Herm’s Medical Entomology
The Horn Fly Effect
• Steelman (1990) reported a decrease of 8.1 kg
(17.82 lbs) in calf weaning weights for every 100
horn flies present on the cow.
• Yearling beef heifers with insecticide treatment
for horn flies had 14% greater weight gain than
untreated heifers (DeRouen et al., 2003).
Research Observations
• Horn Flies can carry Staphylococcus Aureus, a
major cause of mastitis
– This can lead to damage of heifers’ udders, causing
them to work on three quarters to raise a calf instead
of the four.
– More lost quarters on cows and 1st calf heifers.
– Less milk means lighter calves at weaning.
Owens, Nickelson, and Boddle, Large Animal Practice magazine 2000
Monitoring the Population
• Look at infestation patterns early and late in the
day. Horn flies do not like heat, direct sunlight
and wind.
• Horn flies are often found on the sides and
bellies of animals during the heat of the day.
Negative Effects
•
•
•
•
•
•
Kicking
Stomping
Head slinging
Tail swishing
Standing in water
Running
Damage Caused
• Irritation
• Annoyance
• Sores (leading to
secondary infection)
• Blood loss
• Stress
Damage Caused
• Reduced grazing time
– Less energy and
protein consumption
• Lower milk production
• Decreased weaning
weights
• Lower Body Condition
Score
• Lower conception
rates
• Body condition scores
are directly related to
conceptions rates.
Bad
Good
The Economic Bottom Line
Stop Horn Flies From Becoming
Breeding, Biting Adults.
Altosid® IGR Solution
Adult horn flies live 2 to 4
weeks, taking 20 to 30 blood
meals per day.
Altosid is ingested with
cattle’s mineral or feed.
As they graze, cattle
disperse IGR via their
manure.
In 1 to 2 days, eggs
hatch into larvae. After
3 to 5 days, the larvae
molt into pupae.
Altosid breaks the life cycle
here, preventing pupae from
molting into adults.
Female flies leave the animal for a
few seconds to lay eggs in fresh
manure less than five minutes old.
The Product of Choice
• Altosid® IGR:
–
–
–
–
–
is readily eaten by cattle.
is efficiently spread in manure.
proven effective by years of university studies.
has shown no documented resistance.
only requires 1.13 mg/cwt/day.
(22.7 to 45.4 mg/cwt/month)
Horn Fly, Haematobia irritans
• Horn flies don’t like to leave the host.
– They have to feed 20 to 30 times a day.
• Horn flies leave their host to lay eggs in fresh
manure that’s less than 5 minutes old.
– They’re very limited to where they can reproduce.
• For a horn fly to travel ¼ to ½ mile a day, is
difficult. Horn flies are not strong fliers.
– It is against their nature to jump from one herd to
another.
• Horn fly infestations can be controlled effectively
even if your neighbors do nothing.
The Right Chemistry for Today
Comparitive Acute Toxicities
Dichlorvos 80
Caffeine 355
Tetrachlorvinphos 995
Pyrethrins 1500
Salicyclic Acid 1600
Sodium Chloride (table salt) 3000
Resmethrin 4240
Methoprene 34,560
0
10000
20000
30000
40000
Largest value is least toxic. Altosid is ten times less toxic than table salt.
The Beneficial Dung Beetle
• Altosid® IGR will not harm the dung beetles
• Manure is their food source
– removing up to a ton of wet manure per acre providing
less horn fly breeding ground
• Improve soil aeration and water infiltration, and
increase organic matter
– Soil structure improvement
– Long-term fertilization improvement
The Beneficial Dung Beetle
Fresh Cow Pat
13 Hours Later
Implementing An Effective
Horn Fly Control Program
When to Begin Application
• Altosid® IGR should be started 30 days before
spring fly season.
When to End Application
• Continue application until 30 days after first
First Frost Averages
Zones
frost.
1 July / 31 Jul
1 Aug / 31 Aug
1 Sep / 30 Sep
1 Sep / 30 Sep
30 Sep / 30 Oct
30 Sep / 30 Oct
30 Sep / 30 Oct
30 Oct / 30 Nov
30 Nov / 30 Dec
Horn Fly Control Plan
• Pre-season (30 days prior to fly season)
– Initiate feed-through program with Altosid® IGR
– Continue until 30 days after frost
• In-Season
– Initiate feed-through program with Altosid® IGR
– Knock-down adults with sprays or backrubber by using
Prolate/Lintox HD™
– Other pour-on or spray products
– Backrubbers
• Late Season (30 days after frost)
– Knockdown overwintering pupae
– Less flies the following spring
Proven Results in Texas
•
(Figure 4) The chart below represents the average number of
adult horn flies per side.
Ensure your operation is:
Peaceful
Profitable
Horn Fly Free
Insect Management
It’s what we do!
Thank You!
Get started using
Ask your feed supplier today
Visit www.altosidIGR.com
Call 1-800-347-8272
References
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
8.
Canadian Food Inspection Agency, Kocan, 1994, Coetzee, 2005,
Scoles, 2006
J Animal Sci 70:597 (1992)
Byford et al, Journal of Animal Science 1992
Owens, Nickelson, and Boddle, Large Animal Practice Magazine
2000
Harvey, T.L., and J.L. Launchbaugh, 1982. Effect of Horn Flies on
behavior of cattle. J.Econ. Entomol. 75:25
Richardson, Pat, University of Texas
Schwinghammer, K.A., F.W. Knapp, J.A. Boling, and K.K. Schillo.
1986. Physiological and nutritional response of beef steers to
infestations of the Horn Fly (Diptera: Muscidae). J.Econ. Entomol.
79:1010
Case Study: Impact of Horn Flies on the
Behavior of Beef Steers
• Objective: To evaluate the well-being and
behavior of beef steers experiencing horn fly
infestation before and after application of an
insecticide ear tag.
Methods
• Observations were made on 4 angus-cross
steers grazing on endophyte-free tall fescue
• Observations were recorded during morning
(0830 to 0930 h) and afternoon (1530 to 1630 h)
grazing sessions beginning on the afternoon of
day -2 and continuing through the morning of
day 3.
Methods
• Fly avoidance behavior recorded were:
–
–
–
–
–
Head throws
Tail flicks
Ear flicks
Leg stomps (front and rear)
Skin twitches
These were recorded as number of events
per minute.
Methods
• Grazing behavior parameters recorded were:
– Bite rate (Cattle bites/min)
– Number of feeding stations visited/minute
• (Feeding station was defined as the area in which an
animal can graze with its front feet stationary. When an
animal moved its front feet to a new area it was
considered another feed station)
Methods
• Fly counts
– Digital photographs were taken of both sides of each
animal during morning and afternoon observations
periods. The number of flies on both sides of each
steer were summed to give a total fly
burden/animal/sampling time.
Results
Table 2. Fly-avoidance activities and grazing behavior of beef steers with horn fly infestation before
and after application of an insecticide ear tag on d 0 (at 1030 h)
Day
Item
-2
-1
01
02
1
2
3
Pooled
SEM
P-value
Flies, 3n/steer
1,090a
1,050a
748a
120b
94b
47b
74b
109
<0.0001
Bite rate, bites/min
54a b
51b
52a b
49b
56a b
56a b
63a
2.6
0.02
Feeding stations,
n/min
9.0a
6.3b
5.4b c
5.6b c
5.3b c
4.2c
6.0b
0.4
<0.0001
Head throw, n/min
0.9a b
1.1a
0.5a b
.01a b
0.1b
0.1b
0.0b
0.2
0.003
Tail Flick, n/min
6.5a b
10.2a
9.9a b
7.8b c
7.2c
6.4c
4.8c
1.0
<0.0001
Skin twitch, n/min
3.0a b
3.9a
2.1a b c
2.3a b c
0.8b c
0.9b c
0.1c
0.7
0.0004
Leg Stomp, n/min
.01a b
0.6a b
1.4a
0.4a b
0.1a b
0.0b
0.0b
0.2
0.005
Ear Flick, n/min
0.6
2.4
2.0
3.0
1.9
2.4
0.6
0.8
0.31
a-c
Means with different superscripts within row differ (P < 0.05)
Before ear tag applied; a.m. observation (0830 to 0930 h).
2 After ear tag applied; p.m. observation (1530 to 1630 h).
3n = least squares means number of observations.
1
Summary
• There were more (P < 0.0001) flies per animal
before treatment than after.
• Prior to treatment, steers exhibited a greater
(P < 0.003) number of fly avoidance behaviors
except for ear flicks which did not differ.
• Bite rate increased (P = 0.02) after treatment
and steers visited fewer (P < 0.0001) feeding
stations.
Conclusion
• Decreasing fly burdens can promote animal
well-being by decreasing the display of flyavoidance activities and allowing animals to
graze for longer periods without interruption
Reference
1.
Boland, H.T., C. Scaglia, and K. Umemura. 2008. Case Study:
Impact of Horn Flies, Haematobia irritans (L.) (Diptera:
Muscidae), on the Behavior of Beef Steers. Prof. Ani. Scientist
24:656-660.
Effect of Horn Fly (Haematobia irritans) Control
on Growth and Reproduction of Beef Heifers
• Objective: To determine the impact of horn fly
control on weight gain and first exposure
reproductive performance of beef replacement
heifers.
Methods
• 670 yearling replacement heifers were used at
five locations in Louisiana over a 3 year period.
• Heifers were exposed to fertile bulls during a
limited breeding season ranging from 60 – 75
days beginning in mid April to early May.
• In mid to late May, initial weights were taken for
all heifers.
• Heifers in treated groups were tagged with
commercially available insecticide impregnated
ear tags.
Methods
• Horn fly estimates were taken on a weekly basis
from 10 randomly selected animals in each
herd.
• Horn fly counts continued until early fall at the
end of the fly season.
• At that time, an ending weight was taken on all
heifers to determine weight gain and pregnancy
status was determined by rectal palpation.
Results
• Weight gain was 14% greater (15.4 lbs) for
treated heifers when compared to untreated
heifers
• Horn fly treatment did not have an impact on
pregnancy rate (78% and 75% for untreated
and treated heifers, respectively) in this study.
• Weight gains for nonpregnant treated heifers
were 33% greater than for nonpregnant
untreated heifers
• Weight gains for pregnant treated heifers were
8% greater than for pregnant untreated heifers.
Conclusion
• This study demonstrated that horn fly control on
yearling beef replacement heifers improved
weight gain but had no effect on first exposure
reproduction.
Reference
1.
DeRouen, S. M., L. D. Foil, A. J. MacKay, D. E. Franke, D. W.
Sanson, and W. E. Wyatt. 2008. Effect of Horn Fly
(Haematobia irritans) Control on Growth and Reproduction of
Beef Heifers. J. Econ. Entomology. 96: 1612-1616.