ticks

[DinOzarks]

Hi,
What do you all use to help cut down on the ticks, fleas and etc.? We're milking so it has to be compatable with that situation. Thanks for your suggestions.

[TexCountryWoman]

Ever since we have had Guineas on the place, we have not had ticks except when we go way out in the woods well out of the normal range of the Guineas. They love eating ticks and rebugs (chiggers). They have to be able to free-range, of course, not kept in a coop. Also, they must be brought on to your farm as babies rather than adults as in most cases, adults will up and leave right away where as Guineas raised on your farm will stay as they know that as home.

[GoatsRus]

Get yourself a bunch of Guinea hens. They love ticks and japanese beetles.

[mygoat]

For goats? I've never found a tick on any of my goats. I don't believe they get fleas, but they do get lice/mites. I dust them for lice or bathe them with dog flea/tick shampoo.

[TexCountryWoman]

If you worm them with ivermectin or cydectin (use both orally) you should not have a problem with external paracites as they take care of both internal and external paracites.

[MommaSasquatch]

Garlic powder is an excellent tick repellent. We use it on children and critters alike, especially the dog who likes to traverse through the underbrush and roll on the ground and in who-knows-what-but-the-nastier-the-better. Just sprinkle it on and rub in so it's in the fur. I don't know what effect that might have on the milk but it will make your goats smell funny. I live with it on the children, but on the dog it's sometimes an improvement depending on what she found to "perfume" herself with that day.

[Freeholder]

I haven't needed to try it yet, but Pat Coleby, who wrote Natural Goat Care said that feeding a little extra sulphur, the kind used for dusting trees, not the kind spread on the ground, would prevent ticks and fleas from bothering animals. And it's harmless even in fairly large quantities.

Kathleen