Controlling flies

Consider the source

It's a challenge to keep flies in the barnyard from driving everyone crazy. The stable fly (pictured here) bites both humans and animals, and its bites are painful.

Barb Ogg is an Extension educator with the University of Nebraska and says insecticides and repellants are beneficial. But if you have a fly problem, it's because there's a breeding source for them somewhere.

"Animal waste, poorly maintained compost piles, possibly litter from bedding animals, so it could be like straw and that kind of thing mixed with a little bit of manure and then maybe urine," Ogg says. "Garbage is another, and then a dead animal. A dead animal produces lots of flies."

Got flies in the house? Take out the garbage, and check the mouse trap under the kitchen cupboard. Manage the breeding sources, and you'll cut the fly populations.