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How to wage an environmentally conscious war against summer pests.
Pest season is fast approaching and every year horse owners look for better, more ecological protection from those pesky predators.
As you gear up for the coming summer months, we looked into a variety of green protection options for the barn, rider and our equine friends, to help you prepare for battle while keeping the environment in mind.
 Horse owners are faced with the same annual dilemma: what is the ideal pest protection for my horse? Standing in the tack shop we are confronted by a barrage of brightly colored bottles of repellent, all claiming to be the best. While there are many effective products on the market, if you are willing to spend a little extra time searching you can find alternatives out there that may be worth trying.
Flies and Mosquitoes
There are few riders who haven’t experienced a swarm of flies buzzing around them and their horse on a warm day, or the irritating high-pitched squeal of a mosquito as it tries to find somewhere to bite. For those looking for a natural way to rid their beloved equine of summer-long discomfort, there are many products out there that are eco-friendly and effective. There are a number of fly repellent producers who utilize natural ingredients and botanical oils such as cedar, citronella, eucalyptus, lemongrass and lavender instead of pesticides. Some of these products also contain coat conditioners and sunscreen to make your horse shine while he is being protected from being bitten. When choosing a fly spray, especially ones marked, “all natural,” be sure to look at the ingredients list on the bottle. By law, only active ingredients have to be listed. The list on the side should add up to 100 percent, and if it doesn’t, then something is missing. According to Missy Wryn of Natures Balance Care, if you see Pyrethrum, Pyrethrin or Pyrethroid, then the product is not made up of entirely natural products. This does not necessarily make the product dangerous for your horse, it simply means that the product is not completely natural. Some horse owners worry that natural remedies simply don’t work; however, there are products on the market, that utilize natural fly repellents — one of which has been proven to reduce the number of fly landings in an hour by 95 percent when compared to a non-treated horse. Many horses have a very real fear of the spray bottle, which can cause unnecessary stress for horse and owner. For these equines you can buy a roll-on applicator or a concentrate, which can be applied using a cloth or sponge. Fly predators may sound like something out of a sci-fi movie, but they are an incredibly useful, natural, and biological way of managing flies around your barn, stable or field. Fly predators, also known as fly parasites, are relatively new to the market but have been used successfully on dairy, poultry and horse farms. Predators are gnat sized, nocturnal and do not sting or bite. They spend their life cycle on or near manure and will not migrate into patios or houses. Most importantly for many, fly predators are almost unnoticeable. Predators will be delivered in any number of ways but are sometimes packaged in bags mixed with sawdust that look not too dissimilar to a bag of trail mix. When they arrive, you take handfuls of the predators and spread them over your manure pile, near the water trough, in bedding and in paddocks, where they will take care of any fly larva they might find. And contrary to popular belief, many fly sprays kill fly predators rather than the mosquitoes the spray was designed for, thus adding to the mosquito problem. Fly predators can cost anywhere from around $27 to $60 for a shipment that will cover a barn housing six to ten horses, and most companies recommend that new predators be spread every three to six weeks.
Bats
For those too squeamish to think about introducing more bugs to deal with their existing bugs, there are bats. Bats are a fantastic, natural way of eliminating pests. According to Bat Conservation International, bats can capture up to 1,000 mosquitoes in a single hour — which is music to any horse owner’s ears. All you have to do to attract these noctural creatures is build a simple wooden bat house and mount it on a pole so that no other predators can reach them.
Birds
Keeping the barn clean and hazard-free is almost a full-time job on its own. So how do you deal with those pesky pigeons and swallows that have decided to take up permanent residence in your rafters, without resorting to drastic measures? Birds are a very real hazard for horse owners: they can bring with them a variety of dangers, including equine protozoal myeloencephalitis, or EPM, which is shed in bird droppings, and can contaminate horse feed. EPM is an infection of the central nervous system and is often difficult to diagnose because the symptoms mimic those of other neurological problems. While there is no FDA approved vaccine for EPM, there are experimental treatments and drugs from other countries which can be effective. Preventing the spread of EPM is straightforward: store feed in airtight containers and rid your barn of birds. According to Mona Zemsky of Bird-X Inc., getting rid of established birds is more difficult than keeping new birds away, but it is still possible without harming birds or horses, “You have to make your area undesirable. If they still have food, water and shelter, they will always come back,” says Mona. There is a wide variety of bird scaring equipment on the market today that can help barn owners get rid of perennial pests. For example, it is possible to install sound devices that are either inaudible to humans or release intermittent sounds of birds in distress or predators. These sounds make your barn particularly unnatractive to birds trying to find somehere to build a nest. Another scare tactic is to hang objects from the rafters so that they move and sway in the breeze, preventing birds from landing or nesting. Another very popular green product on the bird management market today is one that utilizes taste and odor aversion. This deterrent is made from a concentrate of grapes, and comes in a liquid that can be painted on any surface, including metal and wood. The concentrate, known as methyl anthranilate, is used to flavor grape candy, is food grade and FDA approved, so it is not dangerous to humans or animals. While grape concentrate can be used to make some delicious products for humans, it has been found to have a bitter and offensive taste for birds and makes their senses overload.
Mice and Rats
Mice and rats are an everyday reality for horse owners, and almost an inevitability in barns and stables. Dropped feed provides a tasty meal and horses’ bedding, especially straw and shavings, are warm and useful for creating nests. Rodents can contaminate horse feed with their droppings and can gnaw through bags of feed and even plastic feed bins. Rats have incredibly strong jaws and can chew through electrical wiring and hose pipes; they will chew wood and use it in their nests and they will happily munch on a horse’s blanket that is left lying around. Rats transmit diseases, including salmonellosis (food poisoning) and ratbite fever, to humans and livestock. To lessen your chances of getting a rat or mouse infestation, keep your barn and stalls clean and swept of feed and left over bedding. Hang up blankets, bandages or any other material product that would make great nest insulation. Keep feed in a bin with a lid and wash off scoops and buckets after they have been used. For added peace of mind, you could put feed bins onto wooden pallets, to keep them off the floor. The manure pile is also an especially attractive area for rodents because of the heat it generates, especially in the winter. Managing your manure pile effectively can have multiple beneficial effects: it can reduce flies and rodents, and it can protect the quality of the groundwater. Composting your manure is a great way to create a source of natural fertilizer for your fields and can also reduce the size of your manure pile by half. All you need to start composting is manure, good airflow and correct moisture conditions. There are myriad ways to deal with flies, mosquitoes, birds, rats and other barn pests. In some instances only Pyrethrin-based pesticide repellents will work. For other times, there are eco-friendly alternatives available to the horse owner willing to try something new. Why not try a natural fly spray or unique bird scarers to see if this is the summer you and your horse will be pest free?
Many thanks to the following people for their help with this article: Justin Jones, Espree, Missy Wryn, Natures Balance Care LLC, Mona Zemsky, Bird-X Inc.
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