Fly Control for Horse Barns

Flies are a fact of life around horse barns and other livestock facilities, or are they? According to a study conducted at the University of Florida, fly populations increase and decrease in relation to some factors that humans can’t control, such as air temperature and other weather patterns. Stable management practices, however, can have an impact on reducing fly populations.

How manure is handled is of major importance. The farm that had the fewest flies removed each day’s manure and stall waste to a separate pile. Within a few days, that pile was mixed into a “working” compost row that was regularly turned, speeding bacterial fermentation and generating enough heat to kill fly larvae. Simply piling manure won’t work very well, but turning and aerating the compost is very effective in disrupting the reproductive cycle of flies. This farm reported no insecticide use, a testament to the efficacy of their management plan.

Two farms in the study chose to spread manure and soiled bedding on fields, an acceptable management practice that can decrease fly populations if it is done correctly. One farm spread the manure thinly over a wide area, allowing the material to break down with exposure to sunlight. At the other farm, waste was spread on the same path day after day, eventually building up a thick layer of wet organic matter that was an ideal breeding ground for flies. This farm had the highest fly population of any in the study.

Insulin Resistance and Iron Overload

Q. - Do you know of any research on how to reduce iron overload in horses that already are insulin resistant and have foundered? Is there an equine equivalent of chelation (a process that binds a mineral to an amino acid) therapy to flush out toxins or heavy metals?

A. - Great question. First, while we did find a correlation between insulin resistance and serum ferritin, the point of our study was to see if the reason iron was accumulating in black rhinos is possibly because they were insulin resistant. This is as opposed to finding out if they were insulin resistant because they were accumulating iron. There is a big difference between the two. Most captive rhinos are overweight (similar to horses) and likely do not receive adequate exercise (again, similar to horses).

My first suggestion, rather than to concentrate on the iron in the diet, is to get rid of the factors that made the horse insulin resistant (such as being overweight and not receiving adequate exercise). By correcting those issues, iron in the diet is likely a non-issue.

That being said, once the problem has developed, feeding a diet lower in iron might be prudent, though there is no good evidence that it can correct insulin resistance (or even that excess dietary iron contributes to insulin resistance). Regardless, if you have concerns, testing your feed/hay to determine iron concentrations can answer the question as to whether it is high in iron.

The National Research Council recommends a minimum of 40 to 50 ppm of iron in the feed (this would be an average of all feed provided). The optimal amount may be, and likely is, higher. This should provide a starting point in determining whether you are providing feed that is high in iron or not.

But to answer your specific question, to my knowledge there are not any recommended chelating agents currently being used. Even if you could remove the excess iron, it would not remove the factors that caused the horse to become insulin resistant in the first place. Those are probably even more important to focus on, though decreasing excessive dietary iron (if found to be doing so) would not hurt.

Possibly Protective Broodmare

Q. I am concerned that if my mare is so protective that she will not let me near her or the foal. How will I deal with that?

A. Some mares are very good mothers and this involves protecting their foals, but it does make it difficult to work with the foal if the mare is excessive in this behavior. You might need to desensitize the mare to your presence.

If her protection of the foal doesn’t mean attacking you I would recommend sitting in the stall or open doorway quietly for prolonged periods of time (30-60 minutes) several times a day. The mare will become comfortable with your being there, and the foal will be curious. Often the foals will approach you if you are quiet.

Always greet the mare first when entering a stall. Food distractions are also helpful.

Cold Weather Leg Wrapping

Q. - In temperatures below 15 degrees I wrap my horses' lower legs in fleece-lined boots at night, as they are prone to laminitis and I hope it will aid circulation as well as keep them warm. They seldom go into the barn, even in very cold temps. Do you think this helps them, or what would you suggest during winter?

A. -  I don't think you will do any harm by wrapping your horses’ legs, but I do think it’s more beneficial due to the support it gives the soft tissues, such as the tendons, rather than aiding circulation. Because horses have a natural perfusion mechanism, they can adjust their temperature using blood vessel dilation and constriction to stay warm.

Also, researchers have proven that cryotherapy (cold therapy) does help ameliorate some of the factors that can cause laminitis, so a horse standing in colder temperatures (e.g., ice water, ground snow) might actually be beneficial.