"Trap" Vacuums Flies Off Cows

Trap Vacuums Flies Off Cows DAIRY EQUIPMENT & IDEAS A fly vacuum that sucks flies off cows when they walk through it was introduced at the recent World Ag Expo in California It’s powered by a 3/4 hp electric motor and is equipped with plastic vacuum tubes on one side and pressure tubes with a collection chamber on the other When a cow walks through the device a blower automatically starts up and blows flies off the animal’s face legs and body The airborne flies are then sucked up into vacuum tubes As the cow continues to move forward it walks underneath a curtain that also vacuums flies off the animal’s back The blower automatically shuts off after the last cow has passed through Then valves inside the vacuum tubes close capturing the flies inside where they’re lured by light inside a collection chamber Eventually the flies run out of energy die and fall into a bag below the chamber “Flies can’t build up resistance like they do to chemicals ” says Tom Spalding of Spalding Labs “The idea is to collect flies faster than they can reproduce The system has been tested successfully for four years at a major university Before using the Cow Vac grazing cows at the research dairy had horn fly numbers of up to 1 200 per cow What’s important is to keep fly numbers below the economic threshold of 200 not only for the economic aspect but also for the comfort of the animal With the Cow Vac in use this has been achieved and often there are cows that are fly-free “The electric motor operates only when cows go through the unit so the operating cost is minimal ” Spalding says he expects to have the unit in production by this June “Our final price hasn’t been determined but we expect it to sell for $2 500 to $5 000 ” he notes Contact: FARM SHOW Followup Spalding Lab P O Box 10000 Reno Nev 89510 ph 866 404-3907; info@spalding-labs com; snxzs spalding-labs com

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