Agricultural News
Insecticidal Ear Tags Causing Concern With Horn Fly Resistance
Fri, 03 Jun 2011 9:14:55 CDT
With pest issues contributing to the loss of a significant amount of dollars in today's cattle industry, fly control resides near the top of most producers "to do" list during the summer. The most common mechanism for horn fly control has been the use of insecticidal ear tags. Kansas State University veterinarian Gregg Hanzlicek says that horn fly resistance to those ear tags has become a growing concern. He explains that there are two reasons for this.
One concern is the ear tags focus mainly on the most susceptible of the insects, causing the insects that are resistant to the ear tags to breed. Another concern is the way the dose levels decrease throughout the year. Because the dose level drops to a low level, farmers and ranchers need to remember to change the ear tags to prevent the ear tags targeting only the most susceptible of the horn flies.
Hanzlicek suggests supplementing ear tags with other mechanisms, such as topical insecticides about the middle to late part of the grazing seasons to prevent resistance among the horn fly.
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