Agriculture Proud 017 - Dave Thomas on Cattle Fly Control

You know that graduate student who gets the lucky draw to help with those “fun” summer projects? Yep, that was my role when I first met today’s podcast guest.

Now, to be honest, the summer project wasn’t too bad. I had the opportunity to help measure the results with a new fly tag project by taking photos of cattle each week for an entire summer. There are definitely worse ways to spend Monday mornings than stalking cows around pastures with camera in tow. Thank goodness there is technology to help count the flies in the pictures or I may have really gone cross-eyed.

On Episode 017 of the Agriculture Proud podcast, I am joined by Dave Thomas. He is the Dairy Insecticide Marketing Manager for Bayer Animal Health, based out of Tennessee. I was able to catch up with Dave on a recent trip to Kansas City when we sat down to talk about everything flies and fly control around cattle. I’ve received numerous reports of this being a particularly bad year for pinkeye in cattle, so it should be a relevant topic for many across the country.

While Dave’s current role focuses on fly control in dairy cattle, he has spent much of his life working around beef cattle, so we’re able to touch on both sides of the conversation.

It’s not all fly tags and pour on. There are many options for fly control and figuring out which is best may often depend on what your situation is – on season, environment or type of animal. It’s often best to use a combination of products instead of sticking with a lone fly control method.

Dave Thomas fills us in on the different types of fly control options out there and what you should look for when trying to choose which type is best for you. If you have any questions on this topic, leave them in the comments section below and we’ll work to get them answered.

To learn more, visit with your local University Extension livestock specialists.

I hope you enjoy this episode of the Agriculture Proud podcast. Check out all my episodes at BeefRunner.com/podcast.

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