
Ronald Lawrence
Manager, May’s Lick Mill
Keeping the flies off your cattle helps prevent pinkeye, keeps your cows in better body condition, and helps your calves gain weight faster. Fly tags are one of the most economical ways to help with fly control, and around May 1 is a great time to put them in.
Using one fly tag per animal will get you about three months of protection; using two per animal will extend that protection for about an additional month. Remove the fly tags when you work your cattle in the fall. It’s also important to rotate the kind of fly tags you’re using, so flies don’t build up resistance to the insecticide in them. Y-Tex has a four-year rotation that you can cycle through for the most effective protection.
Although fly tags are a great tool, you can’t get total fly control by using them alone. Consider using a cattle rub with Synergized DeLice or another product that contains permethrin to complement the tags. Pour-on dewormers like Eprinex will also give you weeks of fly control. Another effective strategy is to include fly control insecticide in your cattle mineral to prevent fly eggs from hatching.
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