Content

• To step
• Method 1 of 4: Using traps to catch horse flies
• Method 2 of 4: Get rid of horse flies with chemicals
• Method 3 of 4: Unverified home remedies
• Method 4 of 4: Prevent horseflies and provide rest to animals
• Tips
• Warnings
• Necessities

Horse flies are a common pest to horses and livestock. Female horse flies land on the cattle and make painful cuts in their skin to suck up blood. Unfortunately, horse flies are notorious for being difficult to control, but you have a few options including physical traps, chemicals, and home remedies.

To step

Method 1 of 4: Using traps to catch horse flies

1. Invest in a physical trap. Non-toxic physical traps work best in areas with a lot of livestock, people, or important plants. Here are a few physical trap options that are effective against horse flies:
   • Light traps. The lights on these traps are specially chosen to attract unwanted insects. When the insect lands on the light, it is either caught on glue cards or directly energized and killed.
   • Flypaper. This paper contains an adhesive that attracts and traps both house flies and horse flies.
   • Fly away fly trap. This trap has fly food in a plastic bag for bait. The fly must fly into the bag through a funnel. Once in the bag, the fly cannot escape.
   • Horsefly trap fly trap. These large traps have a lure specially designed to attract sight-hunters, such as the various badger species. When the horse flies have approached the target and see that it is not prey, they are trapped in the metal part of the trap and die from the heat of the sun on the trap.
2. Make your own trap.
   • Hang the chair or stool from the ceiling of your shed or other place where horse flies gather.
   • Tie a medium-sized, dark-colored ball to a rope. Tie the rope to the bottom of the chair or stool so that the ball dangles down.
   • Attach flypaper to the bottom of the chair or stool. Nudge the ball every few hours to start swinging. Since horse flies are attracted to dark colors and movement, they will be attracted to the ball.
   • When they fly to it and see that it is not interesting, they will fly up and get caught there on the paper.

Method 2 of 4: Get rid of horse flies with chemicals

1. Choose a chemical. Certain chemicals are just as effective as others. To prevent insects from becoming resistant, it is a good idea to alternate different chemicals when treating the area. Possibilities are:
   • Pyrethroids (cypermethrin, fenvalerate, permethrin, resmethrin, tetramethrin, s-bioallethrin, sumithrin)
   • Organophosphates (coumaphos, dichlorvos, malathion, tetrachlorvinphos)
   • Organic chlorine compounds (lindane, methoxychlor)
2. Treat your livestock immediately. Always check that the chemicals you use are safe to use directly on livestock. Than:
   • Use a small nebulizer or handheld sprayer to mist the chemicals on your animals.
   • If your animals are startled by the mist sprayer, dip a sponge or glove in the chemicals and rub the sponge or glove over your animals.
   • Always wear rubber gloves. Never let these chemicals come into contact with your skin.
3. Spread insecticides over areas around your home. Spray on resting areas or sheds around the roofs, walls, ceiling and rafters.
   • Always remove your livestock from the barn before spraying. Sometimes your animals have to stay outside for a while. Follow the directions on the package.
   • Spray resting areas roughly with insecticides. Make sure to spray under low pressure.
   • Be careful not to contaminate your animals' water and food bowls. Also keep the spray can away from your agricultural implements.
4. Spray a large area to protect multiple buildings. It is effective to spray a large area; it does not require much time or work. But the effect of spraying large areas is often short-lived.
   • Use airplanes, tractors, hydraulic sprayers, or spray blowers to disperse the chemicals.
   • The fine chemical droplets will end up where the horse flies live and kill the insects.

Method 3 of 4: Unverified home remedies

1. Mix 235 ml of liquid dish soap with 4 liters of water. Spray flies with the solution. The soap will suffocate the flies without harming the plants and animals on your property.
2. Mix 1.2 liters of water, 235 ml lemon-scented dishwashing liquid, 235 ml lemon-scented ammonia and 235 ml mint-scented mouthwash. Mix it together in a jerry can. Pour it into a garden sprinkler and spray it on the grass and shrubs. This solution is harmless to plants but will kill horse flies and other biting insects.

Method 4 of 4: Prevent horseflies and provide rest to animals

1. Keep your animal areas clean. Clean up manure, old straw and spilled feed. If necessary, you can spray your dung pile with insecticides to prevent larvae from developing.
2. Make sure there is no standing water near your livestock. Build good drainage systems and remove buckets of standing water. Cover your pool or pond during the peak of the horse fly season
3. Cut weeds and long grass short. Horse flies can find a suitable moist and cool nesting place in tall grasses and weeds. Insects also sometimes retreat to shady, overgrown areas at hot times of the day. To avoid this, keep the grass short and weed regularly, especially along ditches.
4. Provide a shady, sheltering place for pets and livestock. A shed, stable or doghouse will give your animals a place to retreat to when horse flies bother them outside. Make sure windows and doors are closed to prevent horseflies from entering.
5. Provide your animals with ear nets, fly masks and pest control tape.
6. Have annual rituals such as castration take place during the winter season. The fly population should be minimal by then, which will prevent horse flies from landing on the animals' wounds.

Tips

• Wear long-sleeved shirts, pants, and a cap when working near horse flies. You can attach a sticky cloth fly trap to your cap to catch flies that fly around your head.
• Experts have conflicting views on whether chemicals effectively control horse flies. Insecticides sprayed on animals can be ineffective because the flies are not in contact with the chemicals long enough to experience the effects. Some aerosol cans containing DEET are hardly effective, but DEET melts plastic and can be uncomfortable to use.
• Always take a fly swatter with you.

Warnings

• When flies swarm, stand still. Whacking, waving, and running only attracts more flies.
• Usually horse flies don't bite humans. However, if you are bitten by a badger, wash the wound with soap and water. Press a ball of gauze dipped in alcohol onto the wound. Keep an eye on the swelling in case it gets worse from an allergy or infection.

Necessities

• Light fall
• Flypaper
• Flyway fly trap
• Horsefly trap
• Dark chair or stool
• Rope
• Ball
• Chemicals
• Small mist blower or nebulizer
• Aircraft, tractors, hydraulic sprayers or mist blowers
• Shed or stable
• Ear nets
• Fly masks
• Pest control tape