GINGIN cattle producers are gearing up for another season of stable fly attacks on livestock, despite efforts by the local shire and the Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development (DPIRD) to deal with the pest, as well as enforce compliance to industry standards.
The frustration of cattle producers has been evident in recent years by the lengths they have gone to in a bid to reduce the impact of the fly on their businesses and lifestyles.
Beermullah cattle producer Rex Cooper said he was part of a group of beef producers who had banded together to try and nullify the flies from a “different angle” – using bugs.
Over a three-year period from October to March, depending on the season, they released 120,000 wasps known as Spalangia pupae fortnightly, which were bred by Bugs for Bugs at Mundubbera in south east Queensland.
The stable fly is the main target pests of the wasp, which had proved to reduce fly numbers while in the research stage.
“The flies were that bad that we had to do something,” Mr Cooper said.
“It affects people’s social life as well as livestock.”
Mr Cooper believed they had a positive result, although it didn’t solve the problem.
“You are much better to go and have a go, than sit back and do nothing,” he said.
“We’ve been fighting flies for about four years.
“It is nothing other than animal cruelty, what these stable flies do.
“It is just another cost to us on top of lost production in livestock weight gain.”
Mr Cooper said market gardeners with good housekeeping and no produce left on the ground were less likely to attract the fly to the area.
The flies were able to travel more than 20 kilometres which made it impossible to protect livestock in the paddock.
The stable fly is a blood eater that needs to feed twice a day and has a painful bite.
The signs of impacted livestock include throwing dirt over themselves, rolling and even pushing through fences and gates due to the level of agitation caused.
It is a declared pest under the Biosecurity and Management Act 2007 and is an issue across the 13 shires on the Swan Coastal Plain.
It breeds in decaying vegetable matter, poultry manure, poorly made composts, or rotting hay/silage, with numbers able to increase rapidly as the weather warms.
Mr Cooper said the biggest issues were policing and compliance.
“There are some market gardeners that do it correctly and they are having good results,” he said.
“People leave piles of chicken manure around as well and there is no way you can police that at present.
“The finger cannot be pointed to just market gardeners as turf farm operators and olive oil producers have also been found to contribute to this problem.
“Mouldboard ploughing was found to have a big impact in eliminating the breeding cycle of the stable fly by burying the waste deep, but it appears very few gardeners have endorsed this practise.
DPIRD project manager Don Telfer said a key focus was minimising breeding from horticultural crop residues, along with untreated poultry litter and livestock feed such as hay and vegetable waste.
“Research by the department into the mitigation of stable fly has led to new control recommendations,” Mr Telfer said.
“In susceptible horticulture production sites, once harvest is complete, residues should be buried by use of a mouldboard plough or hoe, then the soil surface be compacted by a roller at greater than five tonnes per square metre compaction.
“Alternatively, the site can be rotary hoed five times in five days to completely shred residues.”
DPIRD said the previously recommended method of slashing the residue, leaving it on the surface, spraying with pesticide and turning water off would be phased out, as compaction is a far more effective method of reducing stable fly development.
Mr Telfer said DPIRD had met with local government, groups representing horticulture, poultry and livestock industries, and community groups, to discuss planned updates to the Stable Fly Management Plan, including changes as outlined around horticulture residue management.
As predicted last year by the Stable Fly Action Group, the pest has migrated north toward Dandaragan, where Gingin Shire president Ian Collard resides.
Mr Collard said he didn’t have them on his property yet but his neighbours did and due to the “dumping of poultry manure” on properties in the shire, it was inevitable that the fly would be present.
“We have grave concerns with the dumping of manure by poultry farms,” Mr Collard said.
“It’s lucky that we don’t have any market gardeners in the area yet.
“Where there are piles of manure there will be flies, one follows on from the other.”
Mr Collard said the Gingin Shire had a voluntary levy for ratepayers to help fund a ranger to monitor the stable fly situation, but the funds were only enough to cover one more year.
He said rates may have to go up to enable the program to continue.
Mr Collard said the ranger had reported at least two offenders to DPIRD but it decided to not take action.
He was disappointed with the decision and said the shire was looking to have the power to prosecute repeat offenders under a revised Local Government Act, which was currently under review.
“We are only one vote,” Mr Collard said in the hope that others would support the move.
