According to a recent Japanese study, you can paint white zebra stripes on your black cows to reduce the number of biting flies by 50%. Wow – but I have to wonder… is that because the flies prefer black over white or is it because they prefer non-painted over painted? The researchers hypothesized that the zebra-like stripes disrupt the visual system of the flies, making it harder for them to target the cows for landing. I respectfully disagree.
Biting flies are one of the great banes of cows worldwide. These irritating insects cause cattle to graze less, gain less, sleep less and bunch together into tight groups – which stresses the animals and leads to injuries. The cost of the damage done by biting flies is estimated to be over $2 billion in the US alone. You know… you can buy a lot of white paint for $2 billion.
Instead of painting zebra stripes on your cows, you could purchase bulls with genetic fly resistance. Biting flies are no laughing matter! That’s why Pharo Cattle Company™ has been evaluating and scoring the bulls they sell for fly resistance for over 20 years. While other bull producers continue to treat the symptoms of the horn fly problem with toxic chemicals and zebra stripes, Pharo Cattle Company is helping you solve the problem.
We are currently developing 640 bulls on grass in preparation for our four fall bull sales. We will have bull sales in Nebraska, Colorado, Alabama and Montana. All of these bulls will be evaluated and scored for genetic fly resistance. Since the heritability of fly resistance is high, this is something you can improve dramatically in a short period of time.
Quote Worth Re-Quoting
“No matter how long you have traveled in the wrong direction, you can always turn around.” ~ Unknown