Fire Ant Control for Pastures in Summerfield, FL

Summer heat can mean troublesome fire ants in pastures around Central Florida. Fire ant control for pastures in Summerfield, FL helps reduce stress by keeping your land safer for livestock and horses. Large pastures give ants room to spread, so once colonies get a foothold they can quickly become difficult to control without consistent professional treatment.

Summerfield’s hot weather, sandy soil, and frequent summer rains create ideal fire ant conditions across pastures, fence rows, barns, riding arenas, and feeding areas. A couple fire ant mounds may not seem like a big problem, but before you know it the fire ants start to spread until they cover large areas.

Fire ants aren’t just a nuisance for pasture owners who have horses, cattle, goats, or other animals on their property. They can also create dangerous hazards for livestock and people working around them.

Why Fire Ants Love Pastures

Conditions in pastures are ideal for fire ants. Lots of sunlight, loose soil, moisture, and little disturbance on the ground encourages fire ants to flourish. You’ll often find the mounds in the following areas of the property:

• Grazing areas
• Watering troughs
• Fence lines
• Around barns/gates
• Feed storage rooms
• Horse arenas
• Hay storage sites
• Fields/trails

Many fire ant colonies will slowly expand over time. On large pasture properties, it’s easy for these infestations to go unnoticed until there are several active mounds on the land that contain thousands of fire ants.

Rain also causes activity to pick up as ants rebuild mound tunnels and relocate colonies. Fire ants tend to become more active and aggressive during hotter months in Florida.

Fire Ants Put Livestock at Risk

Disturbed fire ants will sting anything that comes near their mound. If your livestock happen to step on or stumble near a fire ant mound while grazing, eating, or resting, the fire ants will swarm and attack.

This isn’t just painful and irritating to animals, it can also cause them undue stress. Young livestock are especially at risk as they explore their surroundings. Repeated fire ant attacks can happen quickly to calves, foals, and smaller animals.

Fire Ants Aren’t Just Bad For Your Animals

Fire ants can create other problems for pasture owners when when they invade and damage:

• Electrical sources
• Irrigation systems
• Utility boxes
• Farm equipment
• Landscape beds near homes/barns

Large fire ant mounds can also make mowing your pasture difficult. The larger your property is, the harder colonies can be to manage if they begin spreading.

Broadcast Fire Ant Treatments Work Well for Pastures

Broadcast fire ant bait applications work well on pastures and larger areas. Timing is also important for fire ant bait treatments. Fire ants forage based on weather conditions. For optimum results, you should apply broadcast bait when the ants are actively foraging for food. They will gather the bait and take it deep into the colony where it’s fed to the queen. Upon ingestion it renders her sterile so the colony ages out and dies.

Fire Ant Season in Summerfield

Fire ants remain active year-round in Florida, but they tend to be much more aggressive during the summer months.

Summer storms and rainfall may seem like they’re killing off fire ant colonies on your pasture. However, once the weather clears, they quickly recover and start spreading.

You may start to notice fire ants:

• Immediately after rainstorms
• When weather is hot and humid
• Where animals like to graze and feed
• In unused grazing areas

Regular fire ant treatments during active seasons can help control and eliminate the sting pests from your pasture.

Fire Ant Control for Pastures in Summerfield, FL

Effective fire ant control isn’t just about reducing a few mounds on your property. It’s about decreasing fire ant activity across your pasture and helping you manage them year-round.

Carrying out fire ant control for pastures in Summerfield, FL allows you to keep your livestock safer, reduce problems on your land, and stop fire ants from spreading. Contact Fire Ant Specialists today online or call at 352-291-2687 to speak to a fire ant control expert about your pasture or large property in Central Florida.