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Are flies pestering your livestock?
Summer heat calls for fly control. Flies are one of the greatest ectoparasites troubling livestock both out in the fields and indoors.Supplementing animals with garlic as a fly repellent is a natural, effective, and low labour method to reduce the effects of flies around livestock.
Garlic’s mode of action comes from a defence mechanism in the plant, in that it releases organosulphur compounds which have a strong odour to repel the pests that are attacking it. Once the animals consume adequate garlic the odour starts to come out through the sweat glands on their skin. As a result, the flies hate the smell of garlic and tend to stay clear of the animal.
A garlic lick is a great way to provide animals with a fly repellent as well as their necessary minerals and vitamins whilst at grass. With garlic supplementation there are different sources available in the form of oil, salts, and powders etc. and it is important to note that not all garlic is equal. Garlic isn’t the most palatable feed therefore a lick with a suitable molasses content is vital alongside the correct level of garlic to achieve best intakes. Addition of high magnesium levels will reduce intakes so a dual-purpose magnesium and garlic magnesium bucket may not succeed enough intakes to cover for flies, milk fever or grass tetany.
In addition to repelling flies, research has shown that garlic also has antibacterial, antifungal, and antioxidant effects in animals (Ogbuewu et al.,2019). Studies in sheep (Curry and Whitaker, 2010 and Hasan et al., 2015) showed reduced faecal egg counts and greater weight gain when supplemented with garlic. Other studies (Mahmoud and Salah, 2017; Zhong et al., 2019; Zhu et al., 2021) found garlic supplementation in sheep to have increased rumen microbial protein synthesis. Garlic supplementation has also been shown to decrease methane emissions (Dey et al., 2021). Some of the compounds found in garlic can inhibit the microbiome producing methane in the rumen.
The impact of flies can be detrimental to animal health, productivity, and profitability. Flies spend their time feeding on other animals’ bodily fluids such as blood, tears, sweat, urine, and faeces. Not only are flies robbing essential minerals and nutrients from the animals they are a nuisance in that the animals cannot devote their time to grazing and resting as they have to battle off the flies and resort to stamping, kicking and head throwing to defend themselves which can cause injury to themselves or the stockperson.
Flies act as vectors to diseases such as summer mastitis in cattle where the biting fly causes infection in the mammary gland. Pink eye (Keratoconjunctivis) is another condition caused generally spread by flies by feeding on sweat and tears.
Maggots is a big issue in sheep flocks, flies can lay a large number of eggs within their fleece which hatch within a day causing great discomfort for the sheep as the maggots start to attack the skin.
Animals become irritable and stressed due to discomfort. Cattle, sheep and horses are usually the main victims.
Overall, supplementing stock with garlic can help to repel flies, and also provide other less visible benefits such as influencing the diversity of rumen microbes, inhibition of methane emissions, better nutrient utilization and improved growth rates and overall health and performance.
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