Photo Credit: Luke Davies
A Colorado-based company that calls itself Organic Cowboy is taking a unique approach to help make equine facilities around the country strict “No Fly Zones.”
Instead of relying on costly and sometimes harmful pesticides to control the fly population around barns, pastures and boarding stables, Organic Cowboy is promoting the use of their signature fly parasites to give horse owners season long relief – the natural way.
Belonging to the Pteromalidae family, these harmless gnat-sized parasites are a known enemy of flies and help to eliminate the pests by depositing eggs into the fly pupa before they hatch.
The Organic Cowboy blend includes Spalangia cameroni, Muscidifurax zaraptor, and Muscidifurax raptorellus fly parasites. This specialized mix of multiple parasite strains helps to control houseflies, stable flies and horn flies.
Matthew Grainger, owner of Organic Cowboy, says fly parasites are indigenous to North America and the three species they use are reared in California.
The typical life cycle of a female fly parasite ranges from 2 weeks to one month. She only lives long enough to implant her 50-100 eggs into fly pupa. After being released near fly breeding sites, the fly parasite searches for fly pupa in which to lay her eggs. Within 14-28 days, the eggs that were deposited inside the pupa will develop into adults and a new generation of parasites is born.
Grainger says people have been using insects such as fly parasites in fly control for over forty years.
“I started my company in 1975 and the traditional market was in beef cattle and dairy,” he says. “We had great success in reducing the amount of pesticides that feedlots and dairies used. In fact, fly parasites are considered to be the cornerstone of an integrated fly control program in those two industries. We hope to have the same impact with horse owners when it comes to reducing reliance upon pesticides.”
Organic Cowboy suggests that in order to maximize the effectiveness of your fly parasites, you should locate the areas around barn that are the worst fly breeding habitats. These are often places where manure builds up around fence lines, or where manure is stored for removal. Once you have located these areas, just sprinkle a a small quantity of the package onto the manure.
To maintain an effective program, you can either choose to receive parasites every other week, or once a month. When your fly parasites arrive, it is best to use them within 48 hours of arrival. It this is not possible, you can store them in the refrigerator to slow their metabolism.
“It’s not beneficial to use fly parasites on a one time release basis, that’s why our program is designed as it is for the full season,” Grainger says. “The program’s efficacy comes from the regular release of fly parasites throughout the entire fly control season. We recommend every other week releases.”
Organic Cowboy’s website has a user friendly ordering system that allows you to click on your region of the country, plug in how many horses are on the property and select your shipping frequency.
“The season length is dependent on the area of the country that the stable is located,” Grainger says. “The number of fly parasites released is then determined by the number of horses.”
The program then instantly develops a seasonal program based on your needs and requirements. The cost per package starts at $22.50 for 25,000 parasitized fly pupa and the price adjusts downward depending on the number of horses at the facility.
Because many equine non-profit organizations have limited resources when it comes to fly control, Grainger has started a program to provide fly control free of charge.
“We’ve started a program with the Colorado Therapeutical Riding Center, where Organic Cowboy provides season-long fly control using our fly parasites at no cost,” he says. “Also, we’re making a $10.00 donation in their name, for each “Friend of CTRC” that orders our fly program for their own stable. Our goal is to support non-profits such as CTRC, and horse rescue centers in every state.”
To order Organic Cowboy fly parasites you can visit their website at https://www.organiccowboy.com/fly_control/index.php, or call toll-free at (877) 499-9190.
The Organic Cowboy Guarantee: It’s really simple – if for any reason you are unhappy with the performance of our biological approach to fly control, or our service – we’ll discontinue your service and refund your balance on the remaining portion of your program. All we ask is that you drop us an email, or call to let us know that you’d like to discontinue using the Organic Cowboy program.
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