# Insect Control



## FunnyRiverFarm (Sep 13, 2008)

Between the black flies, deer flies, and mosquitos my goats are getting eaten alive. The bugs are horrid this year and are litterally driving them crazy...they don't even want to come out to browse. I have tried using horse fly/mosquito spray and also tried a natural product called "Bite Blocker". Neither seem to be helping very much.

I had them out this afternoon and poor Delilah had about 40 mosquitos on just one side of her body. I sprayed some repellent on her and within 5 minutes she was covered again. :shocked: 

The goats do everything they can to try get them off--kick, bite, roll, jump, run around...the poor things are so desperate. I am willing to try about anything at this point! Please Help! :help:


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## RowdyKidz (Apr 2, 2009)

Try hanging fly strips from the ceiling of your barn. :thumb:


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## K-Ro (Oct 14, 2007)

Try sprinkling some Sevin dust on them, it helps for a little bit.


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## sparks879 (Oct 17, 2007)

My neighbor uses this
http://www.spalding-labs.com/Dairy/Default.aspx
she says it works awsome. Other thigs you can try is putting apple cider vinegar in their food or water. I usually do a quarter cup in their grain. Fly strips wherever you can manage to put them, spraying the walls down with fly spray. 
beth


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## goathappy (Oct 5, 2007)

Muscovy ducks are great bug eaters  We've tried fly predators, we've never really had any luck with them but I think thats because our manure plan works out that we move our piles daily rather than letting them sit there, so the predators get moved to the backside of the farm :shrug:


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## StaceyRosado (Oct 5, 2007)

yah I hear with fly preditors you need a manure pile -- not something I like to leave hanging around :?


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## BeeLady (Dec 12, 2008)

I use fly predators as our cow pens are near our house. They do seem to work and I've got manure around whether I want it or not. However, I don't know that flies actually lay and hatch out of nanny berries but if you have horses or cows around the fly predators are worth the effort. I get mine from an outfit in California called Beneficiary Insect.

They won't help mosquitos though. That's getting rid of all nearby standing water, etc. Good luck with that. I have also been using Molly's Herbal fly treatment which is an essential oil mixture that is mixed with vinegar and sprayed on. Its not too expensive and might slow the mosquitos down.

Are there any pour ons approved for goats? I know the new stuff I use on my dogs gets rid of mosquitos on them.


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## FunnyRiverFarm (Sep 13, 2008)

Thanks all for the tips. I tried putting some seven dust on them and it did help a little...it seems to wear off kid of fast though and it doesn't really stop the deer flies--and their bites hurt a lot more than mosquitos :angry:

I have looked into fly predators but I don't think they are very effective against deer flies or mosquitos--which is mainly what we have a problem with.



BeeLady said:


> They won't help mosquitos though. That's getting rid of all nearby standing water, etc. Good luck with that.


Sure would be a lot easier if we didn't live near a swamp...lol...



BeeLady said:


> I have also been using Molly's Herbal fly treatment which is an essential oil mixture that is mixed with vinegar and sprayed on. Its not too expensive and might slow the mosquitos down.


I was looking at that stuff before...I might have to try some. I just wasn't sure because the herbal repellent I tried before wasn't very effective.

I'm not really sure about the pour-ons...I haven't seen one for goats but that doesn't mean there isn't one out there somewhere :shrug:


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## grandmajo (Oct 14, 2008)

I have seen this http://hoeggergoatsupply.com/xcart/prod ... =44&page=1 and was considering trying it, the mosqitoes here are horrible, and like yours, our goaties don't want to go out to their pasture. They also have a citronella and lemongrass spray, is that what you tried before?


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## AlaskaBoers (May 7, 2008)

I use t9-449 I think thats what its called. 

its a dairy fogger that kills lice, mites, flies, mosquitoes, gnats, and repels all insects. I use it in their houses (fog for a hour, close everything off, animals cant be inside) and I spray directly on the animals. 

it works very well for us.


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## Suellen (Mar 9, 2008)

I have used this. It does great job and doesn't smell bad.

"Farnam® Equisect™ Fly Repellent
This natural fly control option is water-based and alcohol free. Approved for horses, dogs and cats. Contains PyGanic® which is organically derived from Chrysanthemum flowers and contains natural oils of citronella, clove stem, and thyme. It is the only ready-to-use equine fly spray listed by the Organic Materials Review Institute (OMRI) as complying with the USDA National Organic Program's standards. Controls horn, horse, stable, house and deer flies, mosquitoes, lice and gnats, as well as fleas and ticks. Herbal scented. Coverage lasts up to 14 days."

http://www.farnamhorse.com/coupons/equi ... 090528.pdf
$2.00 coupon

Suellen


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## liz (Oct 5, 2007)

I use a pyrethrin/citronella spray on my goats, it's done very well with repelling the deer flies and ticks...I've not noticed many skeeters yet though.

I wonder if the "garlic" treatment that works on dogs will work with goats? I do know that if you give a dog garlic powder in it's food it will act as a repellent over time.


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## grandmajo (Oct 14, 2008)

Would the garlic powder taint the flavor of the milk? I'm thinking that my milk customers complain about garlicy goat milk, lol.


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## bheila (Jan 10, 2009)

We live on 7 acres of wetlands and the poor goats are covered in mosquitos. I asked the vet today when I was there and she said Frontline flea spray. She said it was good for fleas, lice, mites and mosquitos.


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## AlaskaBoers (May 7, 2008)

ahh I hate mosquitos! we have really monster ones....some say they should be the state bird instead of the ptarmigan. heck we have 35 species.










:ROFL:

I guess they make up for snakes, and poisonous spiders


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## toth boer goats (Jul 20, 2008)

> ahh I hate mosquitos! we have really monster ones....some say they should be the state bird instead of the ptarmigan. heck we have 35 species.


 Now that is ..a big skeeter....LOL :ROFL:


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## Iceblink (Dec 6, 2008)

Has anyone tried using a combination of chickens and bats? 

I was thinking about tractoring my chickens in my pasture, to help with the daytime insects, and building a bat house to help with the night time ones. Does anyone have any experience with that kind of thing?


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## Suellen (Mar 9, 2008)

:ROFL: :ROFL:


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## goathappy (Oct 5, 2007)

Suellen said:


> I have used this. It does great job and doesn't smell bad.
> 
> "Farnam® Equisect™ Fly Repellent
> This natural fly control option is water-based and alcohol free. Approved for horses, dogs and cats. Contains PyGanic® which is organically derived from Chrysanthemum flowers and contains natural oils of citronella, clove stem, and thyme. It is the only ready-to-use equine fly spray listed by the Organic Materials Review Institute (OMRI) as complying with the USDA National Organic Program's standards. Controls horn, horse, stable, house and deer flies, mosquitoes, lice and gnats, as well as fleas and ticks. Herbal scented. Coverage lasts up to 14 days."
> ...


Suellen, do you know if that is approved for use on dairy or meat animals? I would love to use something that actually works. The only thing is that a lot of chemicals are derived from plant based materials, so I'm not sure if I would be able to use it on my milkers or not 

Iceblink,

Chickens are destructive, and our chickens like to dig up the straw in our barn thereby making more flies so we haven't had much luck with chickens. We've had our muscovy ducks for a few months now and they are really helping flies and mosquitoes in the areas they are in. Bats are good, but we don't have a lot, we have a TON of barn swallows though and they are insect eating machines


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