natural fly control

got a  couple calves//fly are  a problem staying organic in screw worm country//any suggestions//we use a curtian

https://lifehacker.com/build-the-cadillac-of-fly-traps-for-a-fly-free-summer-5571662

Credit goes to Su Ba's blog: https://kaufarmer.blogspot.com/2013/05/homemade-fly-traps.html

Get Muscovy ducks or geese? Our Muscovy ducks *love* flies. Downside is that they *love* to reproduce also, so get only one sex unless you want to control the population in other ways.

Burl, that screen box is one of the best flycatchers to build. The only problem is emptying it. One needs to have a snug top or side door for clean out purposes. Plus if it sits exposed to the rain, the dead fly layer can get really foul after time, making clean out unpleasant. I made ones of those of very similar design about 30 years or more ago. Placed it by my horse run-in shed. It worked great. But I hadn't put a clean out door, so I simply threw it away at the end of the season. I showed it to lots of people and all my horse friends. Since I didn't continue to keep lots of horses, I never built another. Now I see modifications on the design popping up everywhere. I heard way back then that the NJ Ag Dept also came up with a near identical fly trap for use in the salt marshes. Guess the two of us must have had a connected thought wave. Funny how things happen in life. But I'm sort of glad that they did because they were able to publicize the design, spreading the idea.

I highly recommend the screen box trap. But I'd suggest having 3" legs underneath so that it's easy to slide a tray or bowl of bait under it. That way you can refresh the bait as needed or change the type of bait so that you draw the right kind of flies.

By the way, thanks for the blog mention. 😃

I've seen cattle heads strung on a clothesline over a pond. Flies lay their eggs and the maggots fall into the water to feed the fish.

Cow pies are the perfect place to lay eggs, if you're a fly. Free-ranging chickens will tear apart every cow pie, so I would think most beef operations could benefit by having chickens feeding in this way.