Insecticides in Cattle Feed to Combat Flies 'Significantly Lower' Dung Beetle Populations, Which Control Flies Naturally

By Krisy Gashler

Anyone who has walked through a barn or cattle pasture in the summer knows that flies are a nuisance and even a health hazard. Face flies can spread diseases like pink eye to cattle, and horn flies—biting flies that live on cows and take up to 20 blood meals per day—in large enough numbers can impact animals' health and growth. But insecticides frequently used to combat these pests may actually be reinforcing the problem by killing dung beetles, which naturally control flies, and potentially harming other beneficial insects.

Researchers with the Cornell Integrated Pest Management program have been working in collaboration with farms across New York state to understand how feed-through pesticides—insecticides added to cattle feed to kill flies—impact dung beetle populations.

The researchers are also sharing alternative strategies to control pest species, such as using walk-through fly traps, providing shelter, and recruiting poultry to eat fly larvae.