Latestarter's ramblings/musings/gripes and grumbles.

[Mini Horses]

You can spray fly kill products onto a rag or wipe & use on the lower legs before milking. Helps, not total kill but sure helps.

Plus, it stays there for awhile -- more relief for her.

 

[farmerjan]

I am not a big fan of chemicals but do use the Dairy fly spray that is pyrethrins...safe for dairy farm milk houses etc. I spray it over the cows back and legs then feed her, give it about 5 min or so to settle out of the air then I don't worry so much about it getting into the milk bucket. I have also sprayed it on a rag and wiped it on the cow. Got one that HATES the aerosal sound of the spray can. I also hang a wide "sticky tape" fly catcher above them in the barn and it helps to keep the population caught up.

 

[babsbag]

I am going to have to try and make the Two Old Goats lotion. I make goat milk lotion so adding in those essential oils should be pretty easy. How thick is the lotion? Is it like hand lotion or more solid like balm? What does it smell like? Just wondering which oil is dominant. I like the ingredients in my lotion more than "Two Old Goats" as I can pronounce most of what is in mine.

 

[Devonviolet]

I am going to have to try and make the Two Old Goats lotion. I make goat milk lotion so adding in those essential oils should be pretty easy. How thick is the lotion? Is it like hand lotion or more solid like balm? What does it smell like? Just wondering which oil is dominant. I like the ingredients in my lotion more than "Two Old Goats" as I can pronounce most of what is in mine.

Two Old Goats is a lotion. At the co-op it costs about $9 for 4 oz, which is too much for our budget, one of the reasons why I decided to make my own. The other is, like you, I didn't want all those chemicals on my skin.

It smells kind of menthol-y. I like it. The primary essential oil is Birch Bark Oil. I really think that is what makes it work.

In the past, I have made my own lotion. But, when I wanted to make Two Old Goats, as hard as I tried, I just couldn't fit lotion making into my schedule, so I looked in the lotion aisle (at Walmart), and found an unscented baby lotion, with the least amount of chemicals (and most importantly without propylene glycol ). The Brand is Equate. I think it was something like $4.38 for 16 oz. this lotion is so thick, I actually add refined coconut oil to thin it down a bit.

 

[Bruce]

The problem is flies... they land on her hocks and the natural result is the leg lift to "kick them off". If she were moving around it wouldn't be an issue. But since she has to stand still, we both have to deal with the fly issue. She's not kicking about the milking. She has no issue whatever with me milking her and in fact most milking times she's waiting for me to take her over to the fence where I attach her and do the milking. She doesn't get grained while I milk either. She stands there very nicely and coughs up some cud and chews away while I milk. But if the flies are thick and landing on her legs, that's when the stomping and kicking comes into play. I'd spray the whole area for flies, but don't want to poison the area as they lie down there, their hay is there, & I also don't want to poison the goats, or the milk that I drink...

That makes sense. Perfectly natural to want to twitch when a fly lands on them. Maybe you need to jump back into chickens so they can eat the fly larvae. And maybe make a small goat milking shed/hoop house (in your spare time of course! ) where you could hang a few fly strips for those that do get in.

 

[babsbag]

At the co-op it costs about $9 for 4 oz, which is too much for our budget, one of the reasons why I decided to make my own.

That is about what I charge for mine when I sell it. I really need to make some more as I sell a lot of it. While it is easy to make there are a lot of ingredients and I do use a preservative since I am selling it. I also disinfect everything in site while making it. I prefer to make soap, much easier and less liability.

 

[Latestarter]

Well, I think I posted a while back that I bought the bands to take care of Mousse... Hadn't been able to get a hold of him to take care of it so made a concerted effort this evening. He's been chasing CB an trying to mount her, and his mom actually chased him off at one point. After milking when I first put down the feed bowls, there's of course a mad rush on the first bowl. When that happened, I used the crush of goat mayhem to grab a hold of CM by a back leg and put him on his back, kneeling over him, with his head behind me and his appropriate area right in front of me. At first I wasn't able to open the band enough to get both testes through (hand getting weak again after steroids wear off), but managed by doing one at a time. Made sure that I didn't get his nipples, and lifted the band up the scrotum a little away from the body and he is now banded. He squawked when I first grabbed him but once he was on his back he was completely silent. After banding, I got off him and he rolled up and went right over and started eating. No issue. He did look a little uncomfortable after eating when he went over and laid down, but I'm sure it's temporary. I'll post the results over time.

On another note, I went out to lunch today at a different Chinese buffet from the one I've been going to since I got here. Wasn't any better, but wasn't any worse really... I actually wondered while eating if they were owned by the same folks since the buffet's are almost identical. But some of the foods are prepared a slightly different way. The place also happens to be right next to Harbor Freight so I went in and bought a nipple and basic ball cock for tire inflation and when I got home I tried it. Worked like a champ All the mower tires are now properly inflated. While there I also bought a new roll of marking twine on a roller so I can line out the next fence row. The old twine had basically rotted away .

@farmerjan can you tell me where you get the dairy fly spray? or the name of it? Where you buy it from? I guess about any pyrethrin spray would work, and as long as there aren't any other poison chemicals in it, it is completely natural... I could try the DE as well as that's non toxic (food grade). I milk outdoors (unless it's raining, when I milk her inside the hoop house). I could spread some around the area where I milk.

@Mini Horses could you share the name of the spray you use and where you purchase it?

I saw fly traps at TSC the last time I was there... has anyone used them? do they work for you? Remember these would be used outdoors, not in a barn or shelter...

 

[CntryBoy777]

Ya certainly have to seize the "Opportunity" when it is "Presented" in such a fashion....glad ya was Prepared...
Sorry to hear about the wear-off, may be it won't get to the point it was and level out some for ya.....

 

[Southern by choice]

The big fly strips ( 1ft wide on a roll) is great for hay areas since flies really like to be around bales of hay.
The barf bag ones (hanging gross bags) smell so bad - think dead fish stewing in their own juices- were too unbearable for us to use.

You should look into fly predators. It is very late in the season but getting started is better then nothing. Get on their auto delivery.
https://www.spalding-labs.com/

We are really suffering the flies here because last year we were late and this year we forgot to do the auto order. Oh my goodness I cannot even tell you how bad it is and how ridiculously dumb I am not to have them.
Sometimes people thing they aren't working because either the population is so bad they are behind the gun on it or they only get to see the difference when they stop using them... then they see.

If it is real bad start with a higher number order. We have found the company to have great customers service all the way around!

As you know I don't band but I know a few people who do... here is what I have heard.... DON'T lay them on their back... let gravity help - they will "hang"- this is coming from those who learned themselves or from "neighbors" that missed a nut from them not hanging.

 

[Mini Horses]

they will "hang"- this is coming from those who learned themselves or from "neighbors" that missed a nut from them not hanging.

So true!! Second part is this -- count! One, TWO.....


LS I get mine spray @TSC normally. Tall can of "dairy spray" -- name escapes me but, it specifically says approved for such areas. Going today or tomorrow, will post a picture.