This Month in Ag Connection Publishing Information Ag Connection is published monthly for Central Missouri Region producers and is supported by University Outreach and Extension, the Commercial Agriculture program, the Missouri Agricultural Experiment Station and the College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources, UM-Columbia. Please send your comments and suggestions to Don Day, Ag. To send a message to an author, click on the author's name at the end of an article. These losses may not often be apparent but can take the form of reduced weight gains and milk production, a reduction in the value of hides or just an increase in the maintenance cost of fences from cattle rubbing and scratching.
Flies are pests of cattle mainly during the warmer months of the year.
The shape of the mouthparts of flies determines the type of irritation inflicted upon cattle. These mouthparts may be either sponging or piercing-sucking. The face fly is a major pest of cattle and has sponging mouth parts that are used to suck up secretions around the eyes, nostrils and mouths. Face flies are a native of Europe and were first found in this country in 1952. In serious outbreaks, there may be as many as 100 flies on a single animal.