E-9
DEPARTMENT OF ENTOMOLOGY
livestock insects
FLY CONTROL ON SWINE
Ralph E. Williams, Extension Entomologist
Several species of flies may be present around swine facilities. House flies are the most common but the stable fly, little house fly, and mosquito may also be present. The house fly and little house fly are pests primarily because of their general annoyance to swine and other animals. The stable fly, equipped with bayonet-like mouthparts for sucking blood, has an irritating bite, and several of these flies can severely hamper animal performance. Mosquitoes, which breed in standing water around hog lots and in lagoons, can also cause great annoyance to animals by their biting activities. Besides the importance of mosquitoes in disease transmission, house flies and stable flies have been implicated in the transmission of hog cholera and other human and animal diseases.

CONTROL MEASURES IN AND AROUND SWINE HOUSES AND HOG LOTS

Sanitation:	House flies, little house flies, and stable flies develop in moist manure and wet decaying organic matter of all kinds found around animal premises. No insecticide can be expected to control flies as long as breeding sites exits. A thorough sanitation program is a must to hold down fly populations in and around swine facilities. All manure, spilled feed, wet straw and decaying plant material should be removed twice a week to break the breeding cycle of house flies and stable flies which can complete a generation from eggs to adult flies in as few as 10 days. This can be done by
spreading manure and other waste material to dry or by placing it in pits or lagoons to become liquified. If you use a liquid manure pit, do not allow accumulations of manure above the water line, either floating or sticking to the sides, since this is ideal for fly production.

Insecticides for Hog Premises: Table 1 lists the insecticides recommended for spraying hog premises. All except the products listed as KNOCKDOWN SPRAYS are considered residual sprays and should give control as long as 4 weeks. Knockdown sprays have little or no residual activity. Residual sprays should be applied when the first flies appear in the spring.

Fly Baits:	A number of fly baits are available for house fly control in either wet or dry form containing insecticides such as dichlorvos, naled (Dibrom), ronnel (Korlan), Rabon, malathion, and trichlorfon (Dipterex) . They usually contain an insecticide plus sugar or some other attractant. Baits are most useful as a supplement to residual sprays. They alone cannot be expected to control fly populations. Commercial dry baits, in granular form, are readily available, but liquid baits will have to be prepared by the user, usually from emulsifiable concentrate formulations. Baits should only be prepared according to label directions. Liquid baits are usually more effective since they can be brushed upon a wide variety of fly resting surfaces, as well as being placed in flat containers usually used for dry baits. Liquid
COOPERATIVE EXTENSION SERVICE • PURDUE UNIVERSITY • WEST LAFAYETTE, INDIANA 47907