I've done a LOT of googling on the subject. Mainly what I've found is "get rid of manure and any standing water". Manure- done. Standing water?? We have 2 large ponds. I'm about to throw some mosquito dunks in there- do they help at all with flies/gnats? It'll be the first time I've used them to prevent mosquitoes.
I encourage birds to nest nearby, I get rid of the manure, fly sheet/mask the horse, use Quickstrike bait (love it!), and put SWAT on the animals, too. Also, there are minnows in the ponds.
Oh, yeah, I use that stuff too... The bugs are mainly attacking ME when I go do anything outside and I can't use deet, and they get under my clothes (I wear long sleeves, etc) and into my hair and just eat me alive!!! I want to try to PREVENT them in the first place! I use a bug spray that doesn't have deet, it repels mosquitoes better than any other spray I've ever tried including on my horses, but it doesn't keep the gnats out of my hair.
Preventing biting flies/gnats?
