# Flies are driving me crazy!!!!!!



## katie (Dec 3, 2012)

The flies in my barn drive me crazy while i'm milking. They try to get into the milk and I always come in with fly bites. What should I do? Any ideas? I'm not good at making things so if you have a flytrap for me to make I'll need good directions. Anything that you have heard of or has worked for you is welcome.


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## ksalvagno (Oct 6, 2009)

Turn a fan on while you are milking. Just buy those trap and toss bags.


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## katie (Dec 3, 2012)

we don't have electricity in our barn.  O.K. Where can I get them?


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## ksalvagno (Oct 6, 2009)

You can get the trap and toss bags at Walmart or TSC.


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## OakHollowRanch (Jun 6, 2013)

Screens on windows, and is it possible to close all doors? I swat flies after milking each day. We also hang fly strips, and there are the stinky plastic traps at TSC.


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## loggyacreslivestock (Mar 5, 2013)

The stinky plastic fly bait traps at TSC work well in our barn. However, they smell like a dead animal...


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## MoKa-Farms (Jun 19, 2013)

There is a trick where you can take a ziploc baggie and fill it with water and hang it in the doorway, and when the fly tries to enter, it won't because it tricks the fly's eyes. It supposedly works


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## ksalvagno (Oct 6, 2009)

MoKa-Farms said:


> There is a trick where you can take a ziploc baggie and fill it with water and hang it in the doorway, and when the fly tries to enter, it won't because it tricks the fly's eyes. It supposedly works


I thought you had to put pennies in there too.


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## canthavejust1 (Oct 12, 2012)

I just hung this up yesterday...either my flies invested in sunglasses orrrr it don't work!  I swat them several times a day...its a bit of a stress reliever for me lol. The fan helps but they r bad this year. I even had a spilled milk pail the other day from a fly twitch. Grr


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## katie (Dec 3, 2012)

OakHollowRanch said:


> Screens on windows, and is it possible to close all doors? I swat flies after milking each day. We also hang fly strips, and there are the stinky plastic traps at TSC.


 OUr barn is a very open barn if you know what I mean. There are 4 openings 1 of them doesn't have a door on it another one always is open so animals can go in and out and the other two on sunny days remain open for light.


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## katie (Dec 3, 2012)

loggyacreslivestock said:


> The stinky plastic fly bait traps at TSC work well in our barn. However, they smell like a dead animal...


 eww. I really don't want our barn to smell like something dead. Any other options.


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## katie (Dec 3, 2012)

MoKa-Farms said:


> There is a trick where you can take a ziploc baggie and fill it with water and hang it in the doorway, and when the fly tries to enter, it won't because it tricks the fly's eyes. It supposedly works


We don't have doors to put them. Animals could bump into them and we open and close the two others quite frequentely.


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## BillieJoeHoofstrong (Mar 16, 2013)

I have never personally tried them but my friend used Fly Predators and there were barely any flies in her barn. They are kind of expensive though


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## BrokenArrowRanch (Jun 6, 2013)

Try Fly Predators.... I absolutely LOVE them. I have 4 horses, a cow, 2 goats, and chickens and hardly any flies at all. and my neighbor has a like 10 cows on barely 5 acres and never cleans up after them... There flies are awful, mine... none.


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## katie (Dec 3, 2012)

BillieJoeHoofstrong said:


> I have never personally tried them but my friend used Fly Predators and there were barely any flies in her barn. They are kind of expensive though


 What are fl predators plant or animal?


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## MoKa-Farms (Jun 19, 2013)

ksalvagno said:


> I thought you had to put pennies in there too.


IDK, maybe. The one I found was just water


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## happybleats (Sep 12, 2010)

you can order fly preditors from Valley vet...they are small little bugs that feast on fly larve..but I beleive you need to hve them begin befor elfiy season begins? they will keep shipping monthly throughout fly season,if I remember correctly
http://www.valleyvet.com/ct_detail.html?pgguid=d0a27815-d36b-47e4-9ec2-fd92c7fa4802
I mean to order every year and dont...


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## katie (Dec 3, 2012)

O.K. can they survive on their own?


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## MsScamp (Feb 1, 2010)

Yes. Other than opening the box when they arrive and distributing them when they have become active, there is no maintenance with fly predators. Getting them this time of year will help, but for maximum effectiveness they should be started a little before flies start hatching in the spring. If you choose to 'subscribe' (for lack of a better word), the company that sells them will send them to you at the correct time in the spring, then every month thereafter until it freezes.


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## TDG-Farms (Jul 12, 2013)

Oh I do so feel sorry for you. The farm we used to work on was open as well and there could be hundreds of flys in the barn during the summer. So when we left there to make our own, it was a top priority to build a barn that had almost all the comforts of a house. Its got electricity, plumbing (hot and cold running water) window air conditioners for summer and an hold house furnace for winter. Insulated, concrete floors and a easy in and out milk run. Can even pick up the wi fi from the house  I suggest to anyone to do what ever they can to make a comfortable barn for themselves. The extra money is well worth it!


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## NyGoatMom (Jan 26, 2013)

Ok....I'm jealous of the goats....I don't even use AC!! LOL 
Nice barn, bravo!


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## TDG-Farms (Jul 12, 2013)

All those years of working in the trades finally paid off. Was able to do the entire build myself. It was long and tough but in the end only cost about $14,000. And thats a small price to pay for having a happy "wife" out in the milk barn  I pretty much get to go fishing anytime I wanna as payment!


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## katie (Dec 3, 2012)

I'm sure you adore the AC and water. We are going to run electric and put a pump in our barn hopefully this summer or fall definitely before winter. OUr barn when we came here had the minimum. We had to build our own stalls, fencing, milk stand, put doors up, and hayloft probably more. It was practically a big rectngular empty space. The siding wasn't even done.


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## kramsay (Mar 7, 2013)

Buy you 1-2 of the cheap $5 fly traps at TSC... place them 50 yards away from your barn, on a tree ect.. and wait about 2 days. The smell in the trap makes the flys come to it, you can't smell the trap unless you are with in about 10 feet of it, but the flys sure can. The number should decrease in your barn.. I did this and was amazed the first day it had little nats in it, but the next night it had a lot of big flies in it, 2 weeks later it has 4 inches of flys in it, looks really gross but the flies are leaving my horses alone at their favorite "standing spot" (why they like that corner so much I will never know!)


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## katie (Dec 3, 2012)

Hmm. 
We are definitely going to get fly predetors next spring right know we are going to much all the stalls and really clean the barn because we know that is a problem. We'll figure out what else we are doing.


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## enchantedgoats (Jun 2, 2013)

Use cv-80d spray before you milk. It would kill every thing if you can close up your doors. In five minutes you should be able to milk without flies, even if you cant close up the barn. It is specificly made for dairy use. When the flies get bad in the house i use it in here too. Tapes and traps are fine but when it gets out of control cv-80d is what works for us.


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## audrey (Jul 17, 2012)

Do you clean your barn daily? I swear cleanliness is the only cure to flies. My barn is also very open. There is no way to even come close to closing it up, there isn't a single solid door in it. I clean my barn daily (6 horse stalls, 6 horse paddocks, and 2 goat stalls) and have virtually no flies in the barn. The flies are TERRIBLE right now, the worst they have ever been, they just swarm the horses and I as we are on our way in, but as soon as we get to the barn they head back out into where ever they go.


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## katie (Dec 3, 2012)

I think it would be too hard and time consuming to clean our two Huge stalls daily.


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## happybleats (Sep 12, 2010)

I tried the raw ACV...I put some in a bowl and diluted it just a bit..not 50/50...soaked a rag and rubbed it all over my donkeys..they were not happy at all but soon those little flies were landing then flying away...three days later I only saw a few flies on them..time to retreat: ) I think this might work...again..I did not dilute 50/50 and I used a rag instead of spraying it..??? don't know if that made a difference but we will try on the goats next..


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## katie (Dec 3, 2012)

We mucked our stall and now the fly problem is so much better! I think they moved out or at least most of them.


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