Identifying the Enemy
Mosquitoes
Surprisingly, mosquitoes play a vital role in a healthy ecosystem. Adult mosquitoes are important pollinators. The larvae and pupae are key food sources for fish and other aquatic life. However, mosquitoes spread many serious diseases, including malaria and West Nile virus for humans; Western, Eastern and Venezuelan encephalitis in horses, as well as West Nile virus; and heartworms for dogs.
Mosquitoes require moist surfaces and stagnate water to breed in. Anything that will hold just a small amount of water will do - old tires, toys, flower pots, birdbaths, dog water bowls, stock watering tanks - or muddy horse paddocks. Prime feeding time for mosquitoes is at dusk.
Wasps
Yellow jackets and paper wasps are also beneficial insects that inadvertently pollinate flowers and prey on many potentially harmful smaller insects such as caterpillars, flies and aphids. "We would have serious pest problems if it weren't for yellow jackets," said Todd Murray, entomologist for Washington State University Extension. "In fact, yellow jackets are used as biological control agents in corn, cotton and tobacco crops. A few well-placed nests can clean up acres of crops of many pests."
Most of us recognize wasps easily. Yellow jackets are colored in the universal signs of danger: yellow and black. Paper wasps, docile cousins of the yellow jackets, are often confused with their more aggressive relatives, but are usually not a problem to live around. Paper wasps are slightly less gaudy looking with a thinner "waist" and a longer, more slender body.
The easiest way to tell the difference between the two is in their nesting habits. Paper wasps create nests one cell deep, forming a single comb that resembles a small, upside down umbrella. Their small combs are often seen under barn eaves, doorways, light fixtures and even under barbeque grills. The yellow jacket nest is large and most commonly underground, often in an old rodent tunnel. Above-ground nests are the familiar large, round, papery ones resembling an oversized football.
In late summer and early fall (especially when there's been a warm, dry spring) yellow jackets can become particularly problematic. With their strong drive for protein and sugar, they often end up at our picnic tables or garbage cans looking for ham sandwiches, spilled soda pop or spoiled fruit.
Because they come in contact with garbage and filth flies, they can carry diseases such as E. coli and salmonella. Yellow jackets are particularly aggressive insects, and unlike bees, each yellow jacket can sting repeatedly. An injured yellow jacket can emit a scent that calls fellow workers to their rescue - en masse. Like bee stings, people can react very violently to yellow jacket stings and can experience anaphylactic shock as an allergic reaction.
If you collect horse and dog hair and set it out in tufts, you can watch the antics as the swallows swoop and dart to snatch up bits as nesting material. You can buy or build nesting boxes specific to the type of swallows in your area, and the birds will easily accept them. Consult your local Audubon Society, birding organization, cooperative extension office or the library for more information on nesting boxes and how best to display them.
A good way to reduce the nocturnal insect population is to encourage bats to take up residence nearby. Bats play an important part in every healthy environment. Around the globe, bats are the primary predators of many insect pests that cost farmers and foresters billions of dollars annually and spread human disease.
In North America, the little brown bat can catch up to 1,200 insects in an hour. That's more than 8,000 insects an evening. In Europe, bats are highly valued and protected because of their insect-controlling capabilities. Europeans build and display "bat houses" much the way farmers do with Purple Martin houses in the Midwest.
Bat houses can be placed on a barn, pole, tree or the side of a house. The best habitat for bats is within a half-mile of a stream, lake or wetland. Bat houses need to be placed by early April, and it can take up to two years for a bat colony to find your house. Order bat houses through garden catalogues, purchase them at stores or check your local Audubon Society, cooperative extension office, the library or the Internet.
A word of caution: Because of the concern for rabies, which bats or any wild, warm-blooded animal can carry, consult your veterinarian for his or her recommendations on vaccinating your horses against rabies, even if you don't have bat houses on your property. And just as we would do with bees or an unfamiliar dog, you should always leave a bat alone. Bats are not aggressive, although they may bite to defend themselves if handled.
Mechanical Controls
Fly masks are available in several styles and provide an excellent mechanical barrier against flies. Horses learn to love them and will come willingly to put them on. Some fly masks protect the eyes, while others also protect the ears and jowls. Fly sheets are cool, open-weave, mesh blankets that keep flies from pestering the horse's body. Fly boots, which protect the horse's legs, are also available.
Several types of simple insect traps can be useful for reducing the flying insect population. Perhaps one of the cheapest and easiest is flypaper, tape or sticks. This is the old-fashioned type of coiled sticky tape you uncoil and attach to the ceiling and when insects happen across it, they get stuck. Some varieties also contain an attractant to further entrap insects.
New variations include orange or yellow fly sticks - sticky tubes with an attractant that you hang from the ceiling of the barn or stall. The Fly Stik Jr by Farnam is an especially useful product that contains no insecticides, poisons or hazardous chemicals. The disadvantage to any of these sticky products is that when they accidentally fall into your hair or your horse's tail it's a nasty mess. They work effectively, though, so use them, but choose your locations carefully.
Pheromone traps are simple jars with one-way lids. The traps are placed in barn areas where flies hang out. A small amount of pheromone solution, a natural substance to which flies and yellow jackets are attracted, is placed in the jar. The insects buzz into the jar, can't get out and die. Traps are sold by different companies under various names such as Trap-A-Fly, Venus Fly Trap and Fly Terminator. Check farm and horse supply catalogues.
Bait jars are another effective option for trapping flies and wasps. You can make your own fly bait jars very cheaply and easily.
Take an old mayonnaise or similarly sized jar and punch several holes through the lid. Then put in a few pieces of raw hamburger or fish and about three inches of water in the bottom of the jar. Set the jar in a safe place where it won't be stepped on, and very soon the flies, attracted by the smell of the meat, will make their way into the jar and eventually drown.
The disadvantage to this method is that it can be smelly and particularly attractive to your household dogs. But it is a very useful, old-fashioned method your grandmother probably used on her farm!
Several commercial brands of pesticide-free bait jars and bags are on the market. A food attractant is used in these that activates when dissolved in water. Lured by the scent, flies enter the trap through the yellow top cap and drown in the water. The convenient bags come ready to use and are easy to dispose of when full. Some are also reusable. RESCUE!® makes several types of disposable and reusable fly and yellow jacket traps.
Good-bye Bugs
The key point to keep in mind when trying to manage insects is to strive to reduce their food, water and cover sources. After you have their habitat under control, go after the adult bugs with birds, bats, fly parasites and mechanical methods. Your farm will be a lot different than ever before - and you, your horses, your neighbors and the environment will be a lot happier and a whole lot healthier.
