I was intrigued by some yellow flies crawling on a fresh cow patty. I don’t think I’ve ever seen them before.
Thanks to a blog post, I think I found out what they are: Yellow Dung Flies or scathophaga stercoraria.
The flies reproduce on fresh cow patties and lay their eggs.
They don’t bother the animals, but they do prey on other flies, especially the horn flies that are so common in my pasture and pester my cows.
This is good news. I would like to see more of these flies in the future!
Since I don’t use pesticides, I think the flies should do just fine.
I have used parasitic wasps in the past, but I don’t plan on using them in 2024. I would like to see if they are still reproducing and able to keep the horn fly population in check. The parasitic wasps may bother the Yellow Dung Fly, but so far there are plenty of them.