What is insecticide resistance?
Insecticide resistance is defined by the Insecticide Resistance Action Committee {IRAC} as a heritable change in the reduced sensitivity of a pest population to an applied product when used according to label recommendations. For Buffalo Fly resistance to a particular chemical group to occur it is usually caused by the Buffalo Fly being exposed to a sub lethal dose of insecticide.
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What factors cause insecticidal resistance?
Insecticidal resistance is caused by repetitive use of one chemical class of insecticide, under-dosing, or if the fly tags have not been removed after the efficacy claim period.
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How does insecticide resistance happen?
Insecticidal resistance happens when the insect's genetic makeup changes.
When the chemical dose becomes sub-lethal (due to the factors listed above) individual insects survive the chemical application. As succeeding generations are exposed to the insecticide, the number of resistant individuals increases.
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How quickly does insecticidal resistance occur?
Buffalo fly have short life spans and reproduce quickly, which means resistance can develop rapidly.
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What strategies are available to combat insecticidal resistance?
It is recommended to use an ear tag management program that includes a rotation strategy.
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What is a fly tag management program?
An fly tag management program is a wider plan to help you combat flies and other pests.
We recommend the following;
- tagging all the animals in a mob
- applying the recommended number of tags to each animal
- removing the tags at the end of the efficacy period
- adopting the fly tag rotation strategy
- synchronising your insecticide applications with your neighbours
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What is a fly tag rotation strategy?
It is recommended to alternate insecticidal ear tags with different chemical compounds to prevent over-exposure of a single chemical in the target insects. There is little or no cross-resistance between the major chemical classes.
Therefore fly tags containing three different insecticides are used in the rotation.
- AGRESSOR fly tag which contains Macrocyclic lactones.
- OPtimizer or WARRIOR fly tags which contain organophosphates
- PYthon or PYthon MAXIMA fly tags which contain synthetic pyrethroids