Fly Control Tips & Eco-Friendly Solutions

Fly control is a challenge all horse and livestock owners face each season. Fortunately, there is low hanging fruit you can take advantage of to assist in reducing fly populations around equine facilities. For individual horse owners, small actions can add up to make a measurable impact. Ensuring food and treats are not going bad is an easy first step. Washing feed buckets out after use and cleaning manure or bedding up while spending time with your horse positively impacts fly control.

For barn owners and managers, your challenge is integrating changes to an entire system run by you and your team. Manure and bedding management is a dilemma specific to each facility. However, effective management can be simplified by ensuring manure and decaying bedding is removed to limit flies in your facility. Composting manure in designated areas and taking special care to provide oxygen to expedite decomposition can provide nutrient- rich fertilizers for pastures. Conversely, spreading fresh manure in active pastures runs the risk of contributing to fly populations where horses graze. Lastly, muddy areas such as common walking locations and pastures during the wet season can create favorable conditions for additional fly species. Permeable surfaces that can absorb a lot of foot traffic work best to mitigate muddy areas in commonly traveled areas. Designated paddocks combined with careful pasture management during wet seasons can limit favorable conditions for aquatic fly and insect species where horses congregate outside.

There are many ways to cooperate with your surrounding environments to contribute to a healthier space for all who share it. Taking steps to work with nature, opposed to against it provides opportunities for cost effective equine management. Horses are dependent on the environments they interact with to thrive and be healthy. As equestrians, you have the opportunity to be stewards of the environments your horses live in. 

Part of the solution to effective insect management can be the use of fly sprays. This is especially critical during spring and summer months. Finding a fly spray that works is most important. However, have you asked yourself how your fly spray interacts with the environment around you? At Guaranteed Horse Products, our fly spray, Fly Bye! Plus is effective, chemical-free and biodegradable. Our motto is, “Love your horse, Love your planet.” We take great pride in providing you and your horse the option to choose a product that provides maximum protection with a minimal environmental footprint. To learn more about GHP and our products, you can find us here: https://guaranteedhorseproducts.com/.