Horn flies are costing the cattle industry billions of dollars every year. Controlling flies with chemical insecticides is NEVER going to provide a long-term solution because horn flies have been able to develop a resistance to all of the chemical insecticides that have been created in the last 80 years. Consequently, the horn fly problem continues to get worse every year!
The only way to truly solve the horn fly problem is through genetics. Today, I am going to tell you how you can solve the horn fly problem on your farm or ranch in a relatively short period of time.
When you walk, ride or drive through your cows, you will notice some cows have a heavy fly load while others have a light fly load. It’s that way in all herds. There are scientific reasons for this difference – but that doesn’t really matter. All you need to know is that some cows are much more fly resistant than other cows.
NOTE: You must do this BEFORE any chemical insecticides have been used. Do NOT treat your cows with chemical insecticides until AFTER you have identified your best and worst cows.
When horn flies are bad, go through your cowherd and identify the cows with the heaviest fly loads. Keep in mind, as the day warms up the flies will relocate from the back to the belly – and you will have to look at the belly to determine the fly load. Try to identify the worst 25% of the cows in your herd. These cows will most likely be your lowest producing and least profitable cows.
Cull those cows as soon as possible. With cow prices as high as they are, there has never been a better time to get rid of your least-profitable, fly-infested cows. If you are unwilling to sell those cows at these record-high prices, you are essentially buying them at these record-high prices.
Replace your herd bulls with low-input PCC® Solar Bulls that have been bred and selected for fly resistance. In the last 20 years, we have evaluated and scored over 18,000 bulls for genetic fly resistance. While other bull producers continue to use toxic chemicals to cover up their inferior genetics, we have the ability to help you solve your horn fly problem.
I suggest you go through your cows every summer for another three or four years to identify the cows with the worst fly resistance. There will always be a bottom 10 to 20 percent. Get rid of those cows and replace them with heifers that have some bred-in fly resistance.
You will never get to the point that you have a totally fly-free cowherd. You just need to get to the point that the horn flies no longer have a negative economic impact on your bottom line. There is a BIG difference between a fly load of 50 to 100 flies and a fly load of 500 to 1000 flies!
The heritability of fly resistance is very high! Therefore, you should be able to solve your horn fly problem in just three to five years by following the above suggestions. Because cow prices have never been this high before, NOW is the perfect time to get started! What are you waiting for?
We are currently developing 640 bulls on grass in preparation for our 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.
Quote Worth Re-Quoting
“Don’t be afraid to give up the good to go for great.” ~ John D Rockefeller