This is the advice from the Department of Agriculture and Food, which has become the custodian for new regulations aimed at managing the pests.
Spokesman Ian McPharlin said stable flies needed to feed on blood, which made it a destructive pest, especially for horse and cattle where biting led to agitation, weight loss and general wellbeing issues.
‘Stable fly breeds in rotting vegetation including horticultural waste, livestock bedding and decomposing poultry manures in contact with the soil,’ Dr McPharlin said.
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READ NOW‘Both male and female flies need blood to enable them to mate and lay eggs.’
New regulations under the Biosecurity and Agricultural Management Act are based on community consultation and research and aim to reduce fly numbers.
Changes cover use of poultry manure, commercial growing of some vegetables and fruits including olives, feeding vegetables to livestock, and managing livestock in feedlots and stables.
Department regional operations manager Don Telfer said transporting poultry waste and its use as horticulture manure were banned at all times of year, unless it was treated to stop stable fly breeding.
‘Horticultural growers should not allow crop waste to rot on the ground as it breeds stable fly,’ he said.
‘It is no longer acceptable to leave piles of rotting waste on the ground for livestock to eat.’
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