Flies are a constant pest to people and animals, they often land on our food or our drinks which can present health concerns. Depending on the species of fly some of them bite and some of them use animals and people to grow their larvae which can be very painful. Today there is the threat of new world screwworms that could end up here in the United States and if that happens that will have a big impact on the beef industry and Texas is the largest cattle producing state in the Union. There are a lot of ways that cattle farmers use to protect their cattle and one of them is the widely used agrochemicals such as insecticides which aren’t necessarily bad for the cattle themselves but can still use being reduced and one of the direct ways to do that is by the use of parasitic wasps.
Parasitic wasps have become a new more popular method of fly control particularly in cattle lots. They are less maintenance in that the farmers do not have to round up their cattle to treat them with insecticidal coatings or stress the cattle out. Cost can be a little bit of an obstacle but insecticidal coats aren’t that much cheaper either and this way again reduces the stress because all the farmer has to do to deploy the wasps is find a cow patty and place the cocoons on it and let them hatch and go after the maggots like they are supposed to.
There are three most common species of parasitic wasps that are used in cattle lots to include Spalangia nigroaenea, Muscidifurax raptor, Muscidifurax zaraptor which all prey on the larvae of flies which has been shown to significantly reduce the amount of flies in cattle lots which then improves the overall health of cattle. Insects contribute a significant amount of stress to cattle which then affects their carcass qualities because they do not gain as much weight and that can affect meat prices.
This could be an industry changer which is a slow process in any business but changing to the use of parasitic wasps could be a way to improve cattle stress and the environment by using natural predators of flies rather than chemicals. Purchase these wasps and test them out and see if there is a better option than relying on chemicals to solve the problem.
