Flies are not just a seasonal nuisance. They are troubling pests that have harmful impact on various agricultural sectors, livestock, and public health. Harmful flies act as vectors of diseases, reduce productivity, and threaten the economic stability – from dairy farms to poultry sheds and even fisheries, and sericulture (silkworm rearing) units. Today, we are here with a concise but useful information and understanding of the types of these harmful flies. At the end, we have an effective solution to control them.
Why is it important to Identify Harmful Flies?
Each type of fly has a different way of impacting different sectors:
- Flies can bite and irritate animals
- Flies spread infectious diseases like mastitis, salmonella, and pinkeye
- Flies can be a cause of reduced productivity due to stress or blood loss
- Flies contaminates food products such as eggs, milk, and fish as well as fodder.
- Fly infestation can cause regulatory and food compliance failures which might lead to business shutdown.
Common Harmful Flies in Agriculture and Livestock
Let’s begin with the list of common but harmful flies.
- House Flies (Musca domestica)
House flies can thrive in garbage, manure, and animal secretions. And this is common in poultry farms and dairy sheds. Houseflies are known vectors of 65+ pathogens that include E. coli and Salmonella. House fly infestation can result in stress in livestock and poultry which often leads to low milk production and egg yield.
- Stable Flies (Stomoxys calcitrans)
Stable flies are more deadly as these are blood-feeding pests targeting legs and flanks of cattle and horses. The pain of the bites leads to reduced feeding and restless nights leading to lower milk production. Stable flies breed in decaying organic materials and wet bedding.
- Horn Flies (Haematobia irritans)
Horn flies are small flies that feed on cattle blood all day. And this leads to weight loss, poor feed conversion and reduction in milk. These flies prefer fresh dung pats as their breeding sites.
- Face Flies (Musca autumnalis)
Face flies feed on eyes and nose secretions of horses and cattle. They can spread pink eye and various other bacterial infections and are commonly seen around pasture-fed animals.
- Blow Flies (Family: Calliphoridae)
Blow flies are attracted to carcasses, open wounds, and broken eggs. One can see them in poultry and fishery waster areas. Blow flies lay eggs in the decaying flesh and cause maggot infestation.
- Uzi flies ((Exorista bombycis))
Uzi flies are parasitic flies that targets silkworms by laying eggs on them and when these hatch into larvae, they burrow inside and feed on silkworms. This results in losses in the sericulture industry. Uzi flies breed on silkworms and can also breed on organic waste like manure, rotten vegetables, and garbage.
- Dump Flies (Hydrotaea spp.)
Dump flies also known as black dump flies are known to spread pathogens that cause summer mastitis. Some of their larvae are beneficial as they prey on house fly maggots but the adults are vectors of the disease.
- Lesser House Flies (Fannia canicularis)
Lesser house flies can be found in litter, carcasses and spilled feed. They spread antimicrobial-resistant bacteria called AMR bacteria. The AMR bacteria causes severe illness which is harder to treat and might lead to death. The lesser house fly leave fly specks on eggs which lowers their market value and poses a serious threat to the society.
- False Stable Flies (Muscina stabulans)
As the name suggests, they are often mistaken for stable flies but they do not bite. They are found in decaying manure and transmit bacteria mechanically. They are commonly seen around unclean tanneries and sometimes in sericulture setups.
Impact of Fly Infestation Across Sectors
Dairy Farms
- Reduction in milk production due to stress.
- Spreads bacteria leading to mastitis, E. coli, and pinkeye
- The diseases along with the stress increases the veterinary costs.
Poultry
- Lesser house fly specks on eggs leads to drop in egg quality
- Spread of deadly diseases like Salmonellosis, fowl cholera, Avian influenza, and Newcastle disease.
- Large economical losses as the whole sector might shutdown entirely for weeks and sometimes months.
Sericulture
- Uzi fly infestation in silkworm rearing sheds causes stress and cocoon thinning
- Cocoon thinning and spotting leads to low quality yield.
- Silkworm mortality rises leading to total disruption of the sericulture industry.
Fisheries
- Blow fly infest in fish specially in drying stage and leads to spoilage.
- Housefly can contaminate fish posing risks to human health.
- Larvae infestation results in loss of protein and other nutrients.
Tannery and Waste Units
- Stable flies and dump flies contaminate hides reducing the quality of the leather produced.
- Stable flies bite the workers and causes irritation, unhygienic working space and poses health risks.
- Fly infestation also results in reputation losses and regulatory penalties
Stud Farms
- Stable flies bite horses causing pain and irritation which leads to reducing feed intake impacting reproductive performance.
- Horses may bunch together to avoid flies which might lead to risk of heat stress and reduced grazing time.
- Face flies can cause pink eye, a painful eye infection in horses.
- Reduced weight gain, diseases, and potential veterinary costs can lead to major economic losses.
How to Control Harmful Flies Effectively
Sanitation Measures
- Regular removal of manure and wet bedding
- Prompt disposal of dead animals
- Cleaning of spillages, feeding areas, and standing water
Biological Controls
- Use of beneficial insects like parasitoid wasps
- Larvae of dump flies to control house fly maggots
Practical & Eco-Friendly Control: Why FlyTrap.in is a Smart Choice
Control of harmful flies should be a strategic and planned effort for actual results. Traditional methods like chemical sprays and pesticide use are no longer effective. Moreover, these methods might affect the livestock and cattle. And these are simply not usable when it comes to silkworm rearing sheds.
This is where organic fly traps offer a tested and proven solution to fly infestation control. The traps offer by flytrap.in are chemical-free, non-toxic, and non-poisonous. The trap comprises of two things – the bio-degradable bag to trap the flies, and a food-based bait inside the bag to attract flies inside.
The common traps available in the market are pheromone based. However, this fly trap is non-pheromone based and with natural ingredients, both male and female flies are attracted. And as female flies are trapped, reproduction is drastically reduced. This minimizes the future worries of fly infestation too.
Using the fly trap is very easy. Open the cap on the bag and pour water inside up till the water-fill line as indicated on the bag (dashed line). With the cap open, hang the bag in sunlight and wait for the bait to activate in 24-48 hours. The bait activates and start attracting the flies. It works for 30 days or until it is full. Once full, close the cap and dump it in a trash can.
The bait inside is effective against house flies, stable flies, blow flies, uzi flies and all other fly types discussed above. Being compact and easy to use, organic fly traps offer a practical and scalable fly control solution.
Benefits of FlyTrap.in’s Organic Fly Traps
- Eco-friendly
- Safe for livestock and workers
- Easy to activate
- Fly control for 30 days.
- Cost-efficient
- Versatile and traps a variety of harmful flies
By integrating organic fly traps in your pest management routine, you can effectively control harmful flies and also can move towards a greener, and safer business practice.
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