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Post by brookedexter on Apr 18, 2010 13:57:26 GMT -5
I was just wondering what every one does for fly and pest control. We live in lower Michigan. We are raising some steers for meat so we would like to stay away from chemicals if we can. Any suggestions? Thanks.
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Post by copperhead on Apr 18, 2010 16:58:40 GMT -5
I can suggest putting apple cider vinagar in your cow drinking water, it helps. When they get really bad you can put a peppermint oil on them too. I use a sulpher powder on them to help with ticks and flies.
P.J.
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Post by allmuxedup on Apr 19, 2010 13:50:52 GMT -5
We have lots-o-chix! We have at least 200 chix on Our Farm. We also have geese, turkeys, muscovys. We use DE in the barns & cattle feed. We never allow ivermectin, because it kills dung beetles which are an important element of our plan as well. We give ACV in the water (but never a galvanized container because of the poisonous reaction.) We also make fly traps. A little meat in the bottom of a jug, w/ a pvc pipe sticking out. Remember that flies go up. They go up, into the top of the bottle & can't get out, so they crawl around the top of the jug till they die. The flies can follow the smell of the meat, into the jug. But, they can't follow the smell of fresh air out. As the dead flies build up in the bottom, the smell gets worse & worse, but that just make it work better.
There are still flies in the calm air, shadows, but no where as many as there were befor ewe started taking measures.
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lsg
member
Posts: 247 
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Post by lsg on Apr 30, 2010 8:58:19 GMT -5
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Post by liz on May 12, 2010 17:35:56 GMT -5
I use a combination of neem oil, citronella, surfactant and water. It keeps everything away during milking time and the cows; head to tail, keep most off each other the rest of the day. I am going to try your flytraps though amd!
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Post by Mary Jane on May 13, 2010 19:08:36 GMT -5
We tried fly predators, back rubbers, Cydectin etc but found that rotational grazing (and skipping every other paddock for a "buffer") and having a mobile chicken coop to follow the herd dramatically cut down the horn and face flies. We also put out a loose cattle breeder mineral mix and a sulfur salt block. Happy cows and LOTS of eggs. Our coop holds about 24 max hens and we are currently making an automatic timed/ solar powered door lifter...
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