Octenol fails to lure stable fly to insecticide

A study was designed to determine whether blue targets were attractive to stable flies, whether octenol, a natural component of cow breath, enhanced attraction, and whether treating these targets with insecticide might enhance stable fly control. Blue cylindrical cloth targets treated with insecticides attracted resting stable flies in Southern California dairies. Octenol did not increase this attraction to the targets. Targets did not result in fewer flies in treated dairies, possibly due to insecticide resistance in these flies and the relatively small proportion of flies attracted.