Organic Fly Control
Anyone who has ever milked a cow or two or 30 knows that flies at milking time can make life miserable. The stomping and kicking, milkers flying off or pails getting spilled and the old tail in the face trick turn the happiest job into one of torture. This summer we have less free range hens running the place and we also have more flies this year than we did last year. Being an Organic dairy we have to be mighty picky about what we use to control flies and we ordered some oil based spray from our favorite organic supply house. No Fly is available from Crystal Creek and we started using it on the cows at milking time this week. It works well. I’m pretty happy with it and thought I’d share it with ya’ll. Whats in it? Well, I’ll tell you…
No-Fly
(Oil Base Concentrate)
Inert Ingredients: White Mineral Oil, Vanillin (natural source).
Active Ingredients: Soybean Oil 2%, Essential Oils Of: Cedar 0.80%, Peppermint 0.80%, Cinnamon 0.80%, Geranium 0.80%, Geraniol 0.80%, Lemon Grass 0.30 %, Rosemary 0.25%, Thyme 0.25%, Eugenol 2.0%
July 26th, 2008 at 6:57 pm
Flies! That’s what I remember about visiting your milk parlor - no flies. I was seriously impressed and it was such a difference from the conventional milk parlor that we spent so much time at that summer.
Sorry to hear about your fly trouble though, I’d give you some hens to cut down on the pesky buggers if I could.
Tell your boys that Charlie says hi.
July 26th, 2008 at 9:08 pm
Great tip. It’s useful information like this that is helping me to wrap my mind around this journey of taking care of animals. Do you just spray right before milking? And what is it about the product that the flies don’t like?
July 28th, 2008 at 2:22 am
Hi Gwen
Good to hear from you. I remember that we didn’t have to many flies that summer you we’re out. I also remember it was awful hot for June something like 91 the day you guys came. Thats funny, the boys were just talking about Charlie the other day. They were reminiscing every detail of their time together. Tell Mark I said Hello.
Garth
You just spray it on the cow before milking. Some of those ingredients repel flies and at least one kills the buggers dead (soybean oil-I think). It smells very nice too, not like the toxic poisons that could gag a magot.
July 30th, 2008 at 8:11 pm
Hi Scott,
Ok…I have to ask…what are blackcaps?
Sounds like a great oil - I make something very similar but I have pennyroyal and citronella in it…I make tweak it a bit and add the lemongrass or a few of the others.
Thanks for sharing!!!
August 1st, 2008 at 2:34 am
Hi Cheri
Blackcaps are what we call black raspberries in this part of country(well the hill folks do anyway).
I figured you might a have your own “anti fly brew”
The lemongrass was the first thing I smelled in this stuff. Its worth putting lemongrass in just for the smell IMO. Hope you and the boys are having a good summer.