Organic Fly control for cattle

tomw · Joined: 09 Jun 2004 Posts: 1 Location: South Dakota

does anyone know if there is an organic compound available for fly control in cattle?? :?:

Sharon Sandmann · Joined: 23 Apr 2004 Posts: 9

I plan to try Basic H spray on our goats. Todays formula is 1/8 teas. to quart water when needed. Need to monitor for results, when this rain stops. Sharon Sandmann

Kathe Kitchens · Joined: 21 May 2003 Posts: 829 Location: Dallas,TX

Check other posts for feeding diatomaceous earth and other trace minerals. There is also an inexpensive citronella based fly spray.
Look for Skeeter D'Feeter on the web. It will help until you get the cattle health up to a level that the flies aren't a problem anymore.

Also try spreading molasses as it will help the manure decompose more quickly and leave less material for fly to lay eggs in.

Hope that helps!
Kathe :D

Dchall_San_Antonio · Joined: 18 Mar 2003 Posts: 2001 Location: San Antonio,TEXAS

Joel Salatin, a farming writer and speaker, swears he has no fly problems for a couple reasons. First is he has chickens following up with his cattle. The chickens are brought in 3 days after the cattle leave the pasture (continual rotation). By then the fly maggots are just ripened for the chickens to dig them out and eat them. He uses about 1 chicken per cow. I'm not sure if that is per cow or per cow/calf pair now that I think about it.

Second reason he says he has no flies is that he bred flies out of the animals. He has a very rigid culling system I'll try to remember. First is fertility, second is unassisted live birth, third is disease (like warbles and other parasites), fourth is ability to put on weight, and fifth is flies and other appearance issues. Salatin noticed that certain cows and bulls did not seem to have as many flies as the others. He started watching their calfs and determined that some cattle just attract flies while others don't. And that trait seems to pass to the offspring. So he started culling for flies and has a herd of about 100 cows that are fertile, throw calfs without assistance, are disease free, and don't have flies.

Another approach I've seen is to spray the pasture AND the animals with compost tea. Once the animals are eating properly, they resist parasites and flies. Then the animal spray is icing on the cake, so to speak. This approach is attributed to Betsy Ross from Taylor, TX.