Re: Question on fly control

[Guest guest]

- In the summer months I do NOT keep bedding (straw/shavings) in my stalls. We are 'dirt bare' and clean twice a day. Find that bedding seems to hold moisture, and provides a breeding/hiding ground for flies and such. I have also dusted my stalls with DE (diatomaceous earth). We hang fly ribbons in the stalls and around the milk area. On the stand if the flies are a bother I will spray goat/cow leggs and hooves/and the stand with straight white vinegar. Will at times if flies/mosquitoes are really ON the goats brush them with DE as well. All this seems to provide some relief. Unfortunatly, there is just a certain amount of endurance of milk-maid and animal.

Sharron Dougan

Dougan Farm

Strasburg, CO

Subject: Question on fly controlTo: RawDairy Date: Monday, July 4, 2011, 10:09 AM

I have a question for those who try to be as organic as possible. We currently have one cow and 5 goats that we milk. In addition out in the pastures we have 10 "pet" goats and 14 horses. For your milking animals what type of spray do you use to help with flies? I didn't have the money to buy fly predators as I had hoped earlier in the season, and now not sure it would be much use as we may have to move to a new place in a few weeks. Meanwhile what type of sprays are economical and least toxic. I have tried mixing a few with essential oils, but they don't seem to be doing much. Any suggestions would be a great help. It seems to be mostly the cow that is bothered. We clean her paddock several times a day and the manure is hauled a couple hundred feet away. She used to get pasture time all day long, but then we thought she was going to calve (apparently a false alarm) so we have kept her confined to her

paddock for four weeks, but plan to start turning back out to pasture during the day. She has several spots along her milk veins where the flies congregate and just eat all day long, and I feel so bad for her.Thanks,Sandy

[Guest guest]

We use 1 part Shaklee Basic H to 7 parts water. We spray the holding pen and the animals before we milk. It has worked better than anything else we have tried.We used to use a white vinegar/dawn dishwashing detergent/water mixture but Basic H works much better.

Jan Haybert Evergreen Farmhaybert@...utterlyfresh.com

I have a question for those who try to be as organic as possible. We

currently have one cow and 5 goats that we milk. In addition out in the

pastures we have 10 "pet" goats and 14 horses. For your milking animals

what type of spray do you use to help with flies? I didn't have the

money to buy fly predators as I had hoped earlier in the season, and now

not sure it would be much use as we may have to move to a new place in a

few weeks. Meanwhile what type of sprays are economical and least

toxic. I have tried mixing a few with essential oils, but they don't

seem to be doing much. Any suggestions would be a great help. It seems

to be mostly the cow that is bothered. We clean her paddock several

times a day and the manure is hauled a couple hundred feet away. She

used to get pasture time all day long, but then we thought she was going

to calve (apparently a false alarm) so we have kept her confined to her

paddock for four weeks, but plan to start turning back out to pasture

during the day. She has several spots along her milk veins where the

flies congregate and just eat all day long, and I feel so bad for her.

Thanks,

Sandy

[Guest guest]

You need fly predators badly. You will need to start out with a lot and then get to where you know what you need where.

They are a god send and and I don’t know what I would do with out them. It takes a couple of years of use to get really

excellent results. We have just got there now.

Chris

Subject: Question on fly control

[Guest guest]

We could all share here a bit.

I have used oils/vineagar/lemon juice type mixes...not much luck; and

you cant spray the face.

I tried a batch fly predators. Probably should buy more. We have out

breaks. We have flies so bad that we hang the ugly strips in the house

and they get full. I also have those glass wasp catches and make a 4/1

water sugar mix and mostly catch flies. I tries some homemade ones

with no luck.

I swear by DE. I use it for worming. You can sprinkle around hanging

areas...waterer, barn, paths, shade tree. If you can get a potato sack

or the like fill it with it and then hang to wear they have to rub

against or go under to get some on themselves..

I have heard that feeding apple cider vinegar helps something about

making blood more acidic. I quit feeding it when it rusted out my

buckets. I bought a stainless steel dog feeding bucket to put it in

lost interest I guess and have been cheating and using fly spray from

when we showed goats.

Guess I better get back to the apple cider recipe and see.

Rothweiler

greenergirl@...

Simple Food

http://www.localharvest.org/farms/M32512

http://www.facebook.com/pages/-Rothweiler/134155923311647

[Guest guest]

Here are some of the options I know of. We use the sticky tape in the barn and

it works very well. I like the looks of the walk through fly trap and I have

heard some good results from other organic farmers. I've also heard good

comments from the natural repellants I listed. One recent discussion I read said

the shoo-fly seemed to last longer than the other two.

http://www.agri-dynamics.com/ Look for ECTO-PHYTE

http://www.crystalcreeknatural.com/animal_products/nof.html No Fly

http://www.dairyss.com/shoofly_insect_-repellant.html Shoo Fly

Cedar oil is supposed to be good with flies. If you type in " cedar oil fly

repellant " into Google several products come up. For those with cedar trees, you

could possibly distill your own oil.

Non Chemical horn fly trap.

http://www.iowabeefcenter.org/Beef%20Cattle%20Handbook/Horn-fly-traps.pdf

Cheyenne

>

> I have a question for those who try to be as organic as possible. We

> currently have one cow and 5 goats that we milk. In addition out in the

> pastures we have 10 " pet " goats and 14 horses. For your milking animals

> what type of spray do you use to help with flies? I didn't have the

> money to buy fly predators as I had hoped earlier in the season, and now

> not sure it would be much use as we may have to move to a new place in a

> few weeks. Meanwhile what type of sprays are economical and least

> toxic. I have tried mixing a few with essential oils, but they don't

> seem to be doing much. Any suggestions would be a great help. It seems

> to be mostly the cow that is bothered. We clean her paddock several

> times a day and the manure is hauled a couple hundred feet away. She

> used to get pasture time all day long, but then we thought she was going

> to calve (apparently a false alarm) so we have kept her confined to her

> paddock for four weeks, but plan to start turning back out to pasture

> during the day. She has several spots along her milk veins where the

> flies congregate and just eat all day long, and I feel so bad for her.

>

> Thanks,

> Sandy

>

[Guest guest]

An animal with external parasites (flies,lice, mosquitos etc) is

supposedly low in sulfur as per Natural Cattle Care by Pat Coleby. For

a cow the recommended dosage is a heaped tablespoon daily.

There are also products through Agri-Dynamics that deal with flies, I

think it is called Ecto-Phyte.

www.agri-dynamics.com

Carol

Akyla Farms