We are boarding 10 head of Angus cattle on our property. They are SWARMING with flies. I feel so bad for them and also they are really attracting flies in general to my barn (which includes my coop). The owner originally said he was going to dust them with Sevin (yikes!) and I told him I didn't want that poison on our farm. I have seriously been considering spritzing them with Avon Skin So Soft, but I think that's no only impractical, but I doubt they'd hold still for me! What can I do? I think the owner is content to just leave them as is.
Flies on Cows
We treat our cows with a pour-on (usually a permethrin). "Cylence" or "Brute" in a strip down the back repel flies for several weeks. We also have a back-rubber they can walk under to apply their own repellent. Perhaps the farmer would do one of those things?
Porkpal tell me more about this back-rubber thingy,my daughter has horses that the flies torment can you send a picture of this and is it something you can buy somewhere?
The back rubbers commercially available look like long sausages. Feed stores or TSC will sell them plus the insecticide to put on them. You saturate them with the bug repellent/killer and hang them from their ends just high enough for the cows to brush under them. They work best if they are placed in a passageway where the cows must walk - to water or feed etc.. You can also make your own with a rope wrapped in rags or feed sacks or (?). I don't know whether they would work for horses. Our horses are reluctant to squeeze under anything like that but are easily sprayed as needed.
Okay, so it looks like those pour-ons you mentioned are a little more chemically than I want to get. I found a lot of info online about fly parasites (you can buy them and they'll eat the fly pupae in the manure) and beneficial nematodes. I'm thinking either or both might be good for both the cows AND the chicken coop. Does anyone have experience with these?
I know it's a big problem!
Concerned about mosquitoes on the donkey, I poured water with essential oils of lavender, neem and citronella on him last night. Just a few drops in water and it smelled SO GOOD. He didn't like it at all and ran away as quickly as possible and avoided me for awhile. He sure did smell pretty though!
I've read that flies hate basil, and that planting basil in your yard is a good fly repellent. You might get a cheap bottle of basil, cover it with water, boil it a few minutes , cool it, and pour it on their backs. What would that cost, maybe $2?
I can tell you this much, you can boil oregano and it will kill lice and mites. Boil it ten minutes, cool it, pour it in shampoo. Wish they would tell the schools this. There is no need to poison children with chemicals. :(
Rosemary, lavender, citronella, and other essential oils are supposed to repel insects. They make great perfumes too, although donkeys don't seem to appreciate it.
As someone that was exposed to toxic chemicals, has had an immune system disease for forty years and is allergic to chemicals, I understand the problem.
All we can do is try.
I've read about those too Mevnmart, but have no experience with them. It's definitely worth a try.
I would be interested in hearing more about that too. I have an apple tree with a big infestation problem. I need help with it.
LFG, I don't know about basil. We've got basil plants galore on our patio, and a horrible fly problem. This morning, much to my dismay, my FIL sprayed the patio (with all of my plants a few feet away). I HATE using poison, plus, I tell all of my customers that I don't spray (which *I* don't). Very frustrating. He was yelling at me this morning because I didn't want to spray the cows with it. I told him to shush a minute so I could talk about the fly predators. I'm going to try a bunch of stuff and see what works. Since I'm eventually going to have my own cattle, I want to know in advance what a good organic solution is.
That fly problem is exactly why I hate cattle. Most owners don't give a hoot and the poor cows are driven nuts by the flies. We had cows next door to us and had flies everywhere. I finally told my neighbor either get rid of the flies or get rid of the cattle. After a six month battle with him he finally got rid of all the cows and when the cows left so did his wife. I found out later the cows were hers. We never have fly problems around here anymore, a few in the coop and I hang a sticky up high where the chickens can't get to it and once a month change it and that takes care of the few that we do get. FLIES...Ughhhh...Hay
I've heard rave reviews on the fly predators. They work best if introduced early in the season but will help at any time. Also Pyrethrins are not horrible chemicals. They are natural organic compounds derived from the Crysanthemum which happen to have a strong insecticidal effect. They won't hurt bees etc because they are actually absorbed systemically by the cow and only affect the pests on that cow.
Well, today I moved my fly traps away from the barn, hoping to draw them out there instead. The coop is swarming. Today, I almost broke my back mucking out the litter, WASHING the whole coop (jet spray on the hose) and removing every last bit of fly friendly stuff I could find. The coop is immaculate and I'm using straw instead of dried grass clippings which I think will help with the muddy effect of the ducks drinking (i.e. dumping water everywhere). The cows didn't look so bad today, but I think I'm going to try the predator wasps. I also saw a bunch of recipes for homemade fly spray, generally made with vinegar, skin so soft, eucalyptus oil, citronella oil, water - various combinations of these. The problem is, I don't have a chute for them, and something tells me they're not going to stand still for being sprayed. Bah. They are definitely horn flies, btw, not the house flies that plague our back patio! I feel so bad for them. After November, these cows will be gone, and then I'll have one or two calves (plus mammas) in the paddocks. I'm not going to let him come back next year w/his stock. He just doesn't seem to give a whit about them, and I can't abide that.
The Equine forum has a thread on home made remedies. Take a look there too.