It pierces the skin and sucks blood as a food source. The stable fly lays its eggs in piles of decaying vegetation such as grass clippings, manure and urine, contaminated hay and wet feed. Infected flies deposit stomach worm larvae in open wounds that result in a lesion similar in appearance to summer sores. These larvae remain in the wound without maturing and cause inflammation and infection. Habronemiasis can be controlled with ivermectin dewormer.
Horn flies feed while hanging downward on the sides and legs of cattle and horses.
The larvae of this fly also develop in manure. Horse fly and deer fly. The female horse fly and deer fly attack horses. Their bite is extremely painful and causes a flow of blood that attracts house flies. The horse fly is plentiful in Colorado and a real nuisance.