Calf Talk

June, 2006

Volume 12, No. 6

CONTROL FLIES AND LICE ECONOMICALLY

By: Russ Schnepper, D.V.M.

Flies and lice have major harmful effects on livestock comfort and production. Both problems can be handled very inexpensively with an Ultra Boss pour-on. Schering Plough, the manufacturer of Ultra Boss has a one dose claim on lice protection if the entire group is poured at the same time. This makes treating a veal barn full of calves very simple. Pour them one time with three ml of Ultra Boss at a cost of only $0.067/100# calf. This is cheap insurance, as the calves may be docked several dollars per head at slaughter, if they have lice.

Controlling flies on cattle by spraying, is expensive, time consuming and not highly effective. Notice the next time your dairy cows go into the barn. Face flies do not enter the barn. The face flies merely sit outside the barn and wait for the cows to emerge and then attack them. So fogging a barn does not take care of the face flies.

Schering claims a near 100% control of flies for two weeks and 75 to 90% for up to eight weeks by pouring with Ultra Boss. The dosage for a 1000 pound or larger cow is 30 ml (or one ounce) per cow. It is poured along the middle of the back and down the face of the cow. The cost of doing this is only $0.67 per cow. A provided applicator gun makes applying Ultra Boss easy. Several dairymen were quite happy with Ultra Boss fly control this past year - they poured the herd every three weeks. This was much less time consuming and substantially lower cost than spraying the cows daily.

Ultra Boss can also be used in a back rubber for cattle on pasture. It is mixed at 100 ml of Ultra Boss with one gallon of #2 diesel oil or mineral oil.

Please do not use a one half dose of an Ivermectin product for fly control. The reduced dose may work for flies, but it will not kill the worms nor the grubs. The danger is that if we continue to use low doses of the ivermectins, it will not kill the worms, but the practice will allow the worms to develop a resistance to the endectocide and then we will be out of luck when we want to use the products as wormers. .Pouring cattle with CooperMEC as they go to pasture, will kill the worms the cattle pick up for the first month on pasture as well as control the horn flies for a month.

We have been quite happy with the huge number of dead flies produced by Bayer’s QuickBayt. The flies do not have a resistance to the imidacloprid, the active ingredient in the QuickBayt. It has a unique mixture of two attractant the flies can’t resist. It is a dry scatter bait to be used around the premises. QuickBayt can also be made into a paste and applied to the walls where flies rest. QuickBayt contains a bittering agent to help prevent accidental ingestion by children, animals, and pets.

Long distance trail riders tell us spraying or pouring a concentrated dose of Boehringer Ingelheim’s Buzz Off and giving oral Promectin E (ivermectin) controls the flies, ticks, lice and mosquitoes on their horses for the entire trail ride.

Contact information for ordering information and questions about our products:

Schnepper International, Inc.

3210 County B, Platteville, WI 53818

608-348-6141, Fax: 608-348-6146