USDA scientists are working on a solution for controlling barn
flies. USDA scientists are developing strategies to help
livestock producers control stable flies, the most damaging
arthropod pests of cattle in the U.S. An economic impact
assessment by scientists at the Agriculture Research Service
(ARS) Agroecosystem Management Research Unit (AMRU) in Lincoln,
NE, looked at four sectors of cattle production: dairy, cow-
calf, pastured and range stocker, and animals on feed. They
found that stable flies cost the U.S. cattle industry more than
$2.4 billion each year, due to reduced milk production in dairy
cows, decreased weight gain in beef cattle, and lowered feed
efficiency. Stable flies are not only a problem in barnyards and
stables, for which they are named, but in pastures as well. AMRU
entomologist David Taylor and his colleagues showed that this is
partly due to the use of large bales of hay placed in fields as
supplemental feed for cattle during winter. These feeding sites
where wasted hay, manure and u