Flies, Lice & Ticks – Oh my!
Spring is at our doorsteps and that means flies, lice, and ticks all come back. Flies especially, cause a lot of problems to the herd. Flies spread diseases, like anaplasmosis and pink eye. An abundance of flies on cattle tend to cause stress and irritation, which results in lower milk yields and decreased weight gain.
How can we prepare for fly season? Start by removing potential breeding grounds, which is anything damp. Get rid of excess manure, get rid of spilled leftover feed, and improve drainage on problem areas. Second, is to use a form of treatment. Insecticides are a possible treatment, but insects usually build up a tolerance to them and they end up not working. There is, however, a natural treatment that works, and that is garlic. Garlic contains a natural sulfur compound allicin, which repels mosquitoes, ticks, fleas, black flies, and most flying insects. Consuming garlic will cause the skin to secrete allicin, a natural insect repellent. Flies avoid sulfur at all costs, as it is very toxic to them. Cattle even find garlic very palatable. Garlic is a perfect, natural source to keep flies, lice, and ticks away.
Product of the Week: Redmond 10 Fine with Garlic
The Redmond 10 Fine with Garlic is a natural garlic mineral salt. Feeding garlic salt to cattle is a convenient and great fly repellent. Most fly control methods involve processing cattle through chutes, rotating sprays to minimize resistance, inserting boluses, and many more labor-intensive processes. Luckily, using this product all you have to do is feed it to them. They also love it, for it is very palatable and also includes salt that they crave. It is very easy and cattle don’t develop resistance to garlic, as they do with other chemical treatments.
This product also includes health benefits as well, as it has many trace minerals and antioxidant properties. The Redmond 10 Fine with garlic is the perfect solution to fly control, as it is delicious, healthy, easy, and it works.
“Cow/calf beef customer said he wasn’t sure the Redmond garlic salt was making a difference until he brought a bull onsite from another location. He noticed immediately the amount of flies on the face and back of the bull, while noticing lessage activity on the cow that have consumed the Redmond garlic salt. He also noticed the calves had less fly activity on them.”
– Ron Gifford, Consultant/Agronomy Advisor
Testimonials from Redmond Agriculture
“I use SweetPro and Redmond Garlic Salt year-round. Excellent products with excellent results” – Customer in Nebraska
“We tried the stress blend with garlic this year with my daughter’s 4-H calves. The calves gained well and hardly ever needed fly spray. I will be using it again when get the next set of calves” – Customer in Wyoming
“I use SweetPro garlic/stress and Redmond salt with the garlic and stress package exclusively on yearling heifers during the summer months. The heifers spend more time grazing with the fly repellent qualities of garlic and less time bunched in the corner of the pasture on hot days fighting flies. They come off summer pasture in excellent shape, well prepared for fall and winter here or resale, depending on their destination” – Customer in North Dakota
“Started my cattle and horses on salt with garlic in it. It worked, just as promised. Almost no flies” – Customer in Montana