all natural fly relief?

[widfam]

Anyone know of a natural fly relief? I ask my neighbors and they all say spray them or a back rub with some deisel fuel. I like to be organic and natural as possible but its hard around here. I feed them DE daily so the flies are not real bad but they do bother them. Any suggestions would be great.

[minnikin1]

How much DE do you add to feed?

[linn]

Mix cider vinegar with a little dish detergent, a few drops of citronella and lavender essential oil. I use this mixture on my milk cow twice a dak.

[Ken in Minn]

Hi widfam
I use a product for the relief of flies, mosquites, nats and other bugs on my family, pets, cows and horses. It works real well. It's all natural.
If interested get back to me. ken@dakodan.net Put Buzz Off in the subject line.
Ken in Minn

[Tango]

Originally Posted by Unregistered

If you really want to be natural or organic you should probably do some research into the trace minerals in the DE you feed. Some of the trace minerals are those you would not want your stock to eat.

I couldn't find any information on a google search. Can you post a link? What a lot of people do not understand about DE is that its use is miniscule compared to the feed given. Many people overfeed DE. Given that you are speaking about trace minerals and the amount given to a cow is say 1/2 tablespoon per 5 pounds of feed (for a Jersey). I am feeding very small amounts of DE to my livestock and have seen some fly relief but it isn't what I want it to be. I still need to use fly tape and spray. In Florida, where flies were year round I had no flies at all in my sow pen - well 2 or 3 compared to having to keep my face covered at other pig pens I visited. My sows looked great. My sow right now looks awesome too and there are very few flies around her. That said, I've been giving DE to my horses, goats, and cows for two months and am unhappy with the results. I am beginning to think that free range animals eating grass all day and only getting grain once or twice with the DE added will not show the same results as animals- my sow for instance- that is penned and only eats feed with DE. Actually I have to say my goats look poorly ( so maybe there is something to the trace mineral thing???) Would appreciate your link. Thanks.

[JHinCA]

Valmai-

How much euc. do the cows have to eat to repel flies? We would have to cut branches and take it to them since it is not in the pasture.

Would feeding the milk cow euc. make the milk taste bad?

[kesoaps]

I just spritz on an essential oil blend...well, I did with the horses anyway. Most mint type plants will work, but the best I've found so far has been catnip oil. It's rather pricey (and stinky), so I blend it with spearmint, rosemary, citronella and eucalyptus. But it worked wonders on the horses out on pasture.

[Unregistered]

Tango, do a check on the website owned by the producer of the DE. It will have a list of the trace minerals in the DE. It may be hard to find as they will advertise the trace minerals as benefitial to the animals. What they do not want you to know is some of the trace minerals.
I can give you the names of some of the trace minerals. Lead, arsenic, tin, aluminun. These are in all DE. It does surprises me that those who will not feed commercial feed because of the additives but will feed DE with these ingredients.

[Tango]

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Tango, do a check on the website owned by the producer of the DE. It will have a list of the trace minerals in the DE. It may be hard to find as they will advertise the trace minerals as benefitial to the animals. What they do not want you to know is some of the trace minerals.
I can give you the names of some of the trace minerals. Lead, arsenic, tin, aluminun. These are in all DE. It does surprises me that those who will not feed commercial feed because of the additives but will feed DE with these ingredients.

Thanks Unregistered. I found a link to a notice involving a conclusion by the FDA DE "World Minerals concludes that toxic or heavy elements are either absent or detected at such low concentrations that they are not of concern." Of course it was an independent study completed by a firm with a special interest in the conclusions At any rate thank you for bringing this information to my attention. It merits consideration.

[widfam]

Thanks for th e replies I'll try some of the sprays. I feed DE to my cows about 2-3 cups a day for 3 cows (about a cup a day per head) and I put a cup full into a 5 gal batch of chicken feed. I also give a tablespoon full a day to the dog and mix a tablespoon in my O.J. everyday. Any harmful TRACE minerals in it are probably no worse then drinking the local public water (which I don't do) and breathing the air in the city. Like my old neighbor said "there is no such thing as organic anymore just the air and rain water are polluted" I agree but do the best I can and try to research things out. I have seen great results feeding DE to the cows for worms and the flies in the hen house are very few. Of course it works great in the garden too. Just make sure you get the freshwater food grade DE.

[Valmai]

JHinCA
Sorry I have no idea how many leaves they need to eat. I have gum trees in some of the paddocks and they help themselves. When they are in paddocks which dont have gums I will break a couple of branches off and throw them over the fence when the flies are annoying me, that seems to work!!! If its a long haul taking the leaves to the cows or you're worried about tainting the milk (I dont know the answer to that one, Ive never noticed any 'gum' taste) make a pour on. Use a saucepan you wont use for food. Roughly chop the leaves and cover 1/2 way up the leaves with water. Put the lid on and simmer (not boil) for around 30/60 minutes.(Depends on the size of the pot) Allow to cool, strain the leaves and keep the juice, it should be almost a muddy brown. I sneak up on my girls with this brew in a spray bottle and just squirt where the flies seem to be annoying them the most eg. legs. BTW a couple of drops of this on your vacuum filter makes the house smell wonderful.

A drop or two in the washing machine seems to get rid of those farmyard smells (stale milk) that otherwise linger beyond the first and second wash.

[JHinCA]

Thanks, Valmai. I think we will try making the pour on.

Jean

[Philip]

I avoid feeding molasses to sheep or cows in any form, as flies seem to head for those animals fed on it. I also feed a basic stock lick (25kg dolomite, 2kg copper sulphate, 2kg dusting sulphur, 4kg seaweed meal) which really seems to keep flies away as well as give a good mineral supplement (I'm not sure if US soils in general are light on sulphur ? It is the case in NZ)