The stable fly pest continues to cause agitated concern amongst local landholders, most recently in the Beermullah region of the Gingin Shire. It seems that this summer has been a particularly bad one for stock owners, with cattle, horses and dogs being badly affected by the biting pests. There have been 45 complaints to the Shire office compared with only seven last season. Beermullah, with its mix of intensive horticulture, feed lots and extensive cattle production, is a prime candidate for potential out of control breeding of stable flies and it’s not surprising that this ongoing problem has come to a head in this locality in recent months.
Concerned local, Rex Cooper, convened a meeting on 11 February in the Beermullah Fire Brigade Shed for locals and other interested parties to discuss the matter of stable fly control. About 50 people listened as the guest speaker, Guy Izzett representing ‘Bugs for Bugs’, spoke about the use of an integrated approach to the control of the stable fly. Guy’s approach encourages both horticulturalists and livestock owners to adopt good farm management practices, to maintain appropriate levels of farm hygiene, to limit chemical use and to use biological control agents. Examples of biological agents are predators such as the tiny Spalangia wasp and a fungal agent known as Metarhizium.
Guy spoke of the apparent success of a relatively recent application of Spalangia in a situation where a feed lot was in close proximity to a horticulture enterprise. The incidence of stable fly was much reduced after fortnightly releases of the predatory wasp at both sites and, consequently, both businesses were benefitting from the outcome. Maureen and Kevin Dobra of the Loose Leaf Lettuce Company confirmed what they believed was the success of the use of regular Spalangia wasp releases over the last year.
Bob Wilson, Chairman of the Stable Fly Action Group, reported to the assembled group on the status of the latest round of discussions and interactions with DAFWA, particularly in relation to the imminent re-location to Gingin of a temporary stable fly Inspector to assist with the work being carried out by the Shire inspectors.
Bob also mentioned that the SFAG had managed to secure a face to face meeting with the Minister for Agriculture in early March to discuss the many challenges associated with the BAM Act and the Stable Fly Management Plan.
Bob advised caution in relation to the Spalangia results, since this particular trial was not conducted as a controlled experiment and, in fact, trials in Queensland had shown good results only with the house fly. He agreed that if the wasp releases could be monitored properly then Beermullah was likely a good area in which to carry out a scientific trial.
When the question was asked, a strong show of hands indicated that many attendees were prepared to contribute funds towards further releases of Spalangia wasps in the Beermullah region, to be coordinated by Rex Cooper.
Some of those present spoke of the usefulness of the new DAFWA app, mypestguidereporter, for reporting stable fly outbreaks and they encouraged other landholders to use it. The downloading and use of this app was described in the December issue of the NVN.
