The Economic Advantages of Using Insecticide Ear Tags
Flies are Taking Huge Bites Out of Your Profits! 
Sustained infestation of more than 100 horn flies per animal can cause large economic losses. Cattle fight flies instead of grazing which interferes with feed intake. Bulls may be hindered from breeding. Cows may lose weight while lactating. Milk production and calf weaning weight may be reduced.

• Horn flies cost U.S. cattle producers $876 annually.
• Fly infestations cost U.S. beef and dairy cattle producers over $1.6* billion annually.

By controlling flies on cattle, many economic benefits can be obtained:

• More pounds of meat produced
• Better conception rates
• Reduced incidence of pink eye
• Greater producer returns

The Horn Fly
The horn fly is a major pest of pastured cattle. This small, gray fly resides on domestic cattle day and night during the fly season. It is found on the neck, shoulders, back and side. The horn fly's life cycle is completed in 12-20 days. It reproduces by laying its eggs in fresh manure. Horn flies are very stressful to cattle as they take between 24 to 38 blood meals daily. As many as 2,000 go 5,000 flies can feed daily on a single animal causing blood loss, weight loss and irritation.

The Face Fly
Face flies irritate the eyes, causing stress and extreme annoyance to cattle. This stress may reduce feed intake resulting in poor performance. Face flies have also been implicated in the transmission of IBR and the organism that causes pink eye, Moraxella bovis.

Methods of Control

Sprays and Dips-Disadvantages

• Erratic fly control
• Container disposal
• Frequent re-treatment required
• Frequent rounding up for treating causes animal stress and weight loss
• Withholding period may be required to eliminate residues

Back rubbers and dust bags-Disadvantages

• Erratic fly control
• Frequent maintenance
• Forced use required
• Heavy rainfall may reduce performance
  
  
  

Y-TEX Insecticide Ear Tags
Disadvantages

• Insecticide chemistries need to be rotated, however, excellent rotation programs exist for tags versus other pest control methods

Advantages

• Safe! No overdosing
• No meat or milk residues; no withholding periods
• Easy to use; no maintenance
• Remains stable in sunlight and rain
• Easy disposal; envionmentally friendly
• No potentially carcinogenic inert ingredients
• No forced-use devices to maintain
• No repeat treatments every 3-4 weeks
• Controls several species of flies as well as ear ticks and lice

Insecticide Rotation Is Important!

1. It relieves the horn fly population of resistant-fly selection pressure from the same type of insecticide.
2. Pyrethroid-resistant horn flies tend to have enhanced susceptibility to organophosphate insecticides.
3. Horn fly resistance to one insecticide class tends to drop while the other insecticide class is in use.
4. Extra treatment time is given with organophosphates, due to their slower rate of resistance development compared with pyrethroids.

The Y-TEX Insecticide Tag Rotation Program

 Y-TEX Insecticide Tags and tag rotation provide excellent return on every dollar invested.

Using Y-TEX® PYthon™ Insecticide Ear Tags to control horn flies on cow-calf pairs pays big dividends such as weight gain advantage of up to 69.90 lbs. per animal per growing season. PYthon is the only cattle product to contain zeta-cypermethrin, a powerful pyrethroid insecticide. Its synergized formulation has excellent activity against many pests including horn flies resistant to other insecticides. PYthon is labeled for use on beef and dairy cattle, including calves and lactating dairy cows. It controls horn flies 3 to 4 months with one tag per head and up to 5 months with two tags per head when used in an insecticide rotation program. PYthon controls face flies, lice, Gulf Coast ticks and spinose ear ticks for up to 5 months with two tags per head and aids in control of face flies with one tag per head requiring no withdrawal time. PYthon features the Y-TEX patented Snap-Lok™ collar for 5 months guaranteed retention against tag or button failure.

Using Y-TEX® WARRIOR™ Insecticide Ear Tags to control horn flies can provide weight gain advantages of up to 51.8 lbs. per animal per growing season. WARRIOR is a unique 40% organophosphate ear tag which releases a synergized formulation of diazinon and chlorpyrifos. This patented formula exhibits greater potency than either insecticide used alone and is especially effective against pyrethroid-resistant pest.
WARRIOR  is approved for use on beef and non-lactating dairy cattle. It controls horn flies and aids in control of face flies for 3 to 4 months with one tag per head and up to 5 months with two tags per head. When WARRIOR  is used in an insecticide rotation program it controls, lice, Gulf Coast and spinose ear ticks up to 5 months and aids in control of stable flies and house flies with two tags per head requiring no withdrawal time. WARRIOR also features the Y-TEX patented Snap-Lok™ collar for guaranteed retention against tag or button loss for 5 months.

The Y-TEX PYthon and WARRIOR Insecticide Ear Tag rotation program makes DOLLARS and SENSE!


*Kunz, et.al., CRC Handbook of Pest Management in Agriculture, 2nd edition, Vol.1 The Importance of Fly Control