Barn/Stall Ventilation

[GPintheMitten]

When the horses are out in the pasture, I use a propane fogger to control mosquitoes and flies in the barn. At dusk, I put the horses in their stalls and fog their pastures. Put them back out after about an hour. No flies, horse flies, mosquitoes or barn swallows. The swallows don't find any food so they move on.

Home Depot has the propane fogger and the fogging juice.

What product do you use to fog?

 

[Threepoint]

[snip]
We have a 5' door that is open year round. The horses will leave the barn for their manure droppings, but will always stay in to urinate. There is one wet spot that we are always tackling.
I noticed that when the spot was dead dry, new shavings for a week - we got flies, mosquitoes, black flies. If the horses got ahead of us - there were no more flies, mosquitoes. The answer is horse urine keeps the flies away. You have to balance it between the horses comfort and having a clean good smelling barn. When they are in the barn- they are not bothered by flies. They step outside and the bugs are back.
Good luck.

Interesting observations. I'm skeptical, though, about the urine as a repellant. Everything I've ever seen or heard is just the opposite. :confused3: In fact, horse urine is considered to be an especially strong attractant to stable flies! I'm wondering if it might be different with the black flies up your way.

Another concern I'd have about horses being stalled on urine-soaked shavings is that prolonged exposure to horse urine is quite damaging to hoof horn. I've seen numerous cases at boarding barns where horses are stalled for long hours ("12 in/12 out") on sawdust or very fine shavings that have soaked up urine. The barn hands will fork out the manure and wettest layer every day, but then throw fresh shavings on top of the damp. Over time, the exposure can cause the keratinized outer hoof wall to peel up and separate from the inner wall at the distal margins of the hoof capsule. Doubt this would ever be a problem for your guys since they are free to come and go from the stalls, and in any event it sounds like the urine is confined to a small area that they don't have to stand in.

 

[r porter]

when i built my barn i wired it for 220 volts over each stall. that way i can use old heat pump fans to blow air on the horses. the fans are generally cheap [free] for the asking. a dark stall is part of the secret to minimal flies.

the fogger helps also. i found one that is electric instead of propane.

the fly larvae dont do well in real dry soil. [or a dry stall]