Flies!!!

[JR05]

Does anyone know if goats can use the fly licks that cattle use?? They are both ruminates so is it safe for goats too? Mainly if Rabon is safe,my vet is out of town for the next couple of days or I would ask him. The flys seem to be carrying off the farm!! Have tried the tapes,the hanging jugs and the FlyStrike but the flys are winning this year. Oh also the little blue crystals but they have to be kept up off the ground or the babies will try to eat them!!!!

JR05

[gryndlgoat]

Two words- MUSCOVY DUCKS!

They are absolutely the most awesome fly control that Mother Nature ever devised! Even our baby ducklings consume tons of flies- it is fun to watch them snake along the grass and then pounce on poor unsuspecting flies. I don't think they ever miss!

[natybear]

Goatworld.com is the best place to find out if you can use something for cattle on goats. Never assume that you can without checking a goat related source. Most vets (atleast the ones I have access to) don't know that much about goats. Be careful with cattle supplies, especially with dairy goats being used for human consumption.

[Ellie5]

I use the fly jugs-but I usually put them out very early in the year(middle April). Usually that keeps the population WAAAY down-gets them before they can get started.
This year I didn't get them out early enough, and I have a big fly problem. I've put out the tapes also, but it just isn't cutting it. Had to resort to using garlic in the horse feed to give them relief, but wasn't sure if it could be used/fed to the goats or not (they're not milkers).

[foxtrapper]

Between the muscovy ducks and the guinea fowl, for the first time ever we are virtually fly free here. In previous years, you couldn't see the color of the house through the layer of flies on the walls. I've tried a lot of traps and sprays and such with mediocre success. The muscovies and guineas have really worked.

[uncleotis]

I can't help you with your question but I do have a recipe for fly spray that I use on my dairy goats and it seems to work pretty good. Here is the "write up" that came with the directions.

A couple of years ago I noticed that the farrier who has been shoeing my wife's horse for many years was using a fly spray that worked and it smelled good. I mix and use it in a generic 36-ounce plasitc spray pump container. The mixture is 1/2 cup of white vinegar, 1/4 cup of Avon Skin-So-Soft and the rest is Farnam's Repel-Xp Emulsifiable Fly Spray which contains Pyrethrins 0.40% which is about as non chemical as you can get and still be fly spray. The Repel-Xp is mixed at 7 parts water to one part repellant before mixing it with the white vinegar and Avon. This mixture sticks to the goats like glue, keeps the flies away and smells good. I drench my goats with it just before going into the ring.

I don't show my goats but I sure use this stuff. I just make sure I don't spray it on their udders and their faces. When the fly's are biting and I grab their chain/collar to pull them where the wind isn't blowing so I can spray them, they know what's coming and stand for it.

Hope this is of some help to you.

[Vicki McGaugh TX Nubians]

I start fly and flea control early, living where we get no freeze, flies and fleas are way of life.

Fly control starts in March. I put up Golden Malrin. It's is very poisionous and can't use it out on the ground like the direction, so I take a 2 liter soda bottle, make a hole in the side so I can easily add water, add 1/2 a pound of Golden Malrin to the bottle, wet it, just damp, not soaking with water and hang about 4 of them in my barn (30x40) Then in April all bedding is taken out of the barn, and each Friday the barn is raked clean of berries. I do spray a Pyrethrin based flyspray on the does at milking time, and do use a crawling insect spray around the peremiter of the barn and cement because of ants. But the use of chemicals is minimal because of my asthma. I love having the Golden Malrin in the bottles overhead because nobody, not grandsons or baby goats, are ever in contact with it, just the flies. No more stinky traps, ribbons and flies! Vicki

[TwoAcresAndAGoat]

Vicki thanks for the soda bottle/Golden Malrin idea. I have wanted to use it before but did not want in where my critters could get at it.

[greenacres]

We sprinkle diatemaceous earth out and sprinkle it on the goats and horses. It helps a lot.

[JR05]

Thank you for all of your suggestions. I have even tried the jug with Martin in it and didn't work. As to my question about the fly blocks for cattle, They can not be used for goats at all ! Company says ok but on GoatWeb.com under the vet section they advise not to use as someone lost their goats and kids because of it. Maybe a monitor can post the notice for all others to see, I don't know how to transfer from web to web. I have ordered some Mosovey ducks and will give them a try. Thanks again.

JR05