Post by Tamara on Feb 21, 2013 6:50:20 GMT -5
Hi guys!
Tomorrow we will have had Rose and Daisy for a week ^_^
We've renamed Rose Tallulah (I'm liking Lulah for short), and for now we have taken to calling her heifer Bubba, Baby, etc.
It is summer here and we've had lots of rain and now some warm days.
Well, a few days ago we noticed flies were starting to gang up on poor Lulah's eyes, and yesterday and today they attacked her in full force. She has just been swarmed with them, sitting all over her sides. She flicks her tail, kicks at her stomach, and swings her head around all the time. She has weepy eyes and the flies have bitten at the corners of them.
She was very unhappy. I think all the flies put her in a bad mood, as all of a sudden she started getting really mean about Baby drinking.
Baby suckles for a while, and then Tallulah starts continually walking off. Baby follows, of course, and make many attempts to drink. After a while Lulah gets really angry and throws her head around and butts at her until Baby finally gives up.
Baby is a really rough with her 'bumping' when she drinks and slams her whole head into Tallulah's udder. It looks quite painful XD Is this normal?
She has had no problems with Baby drinking up until yesterday (20th) though so I don't think it is just because Baby is rough. I think it's the flies that have made Lulah so grumpy. At least, I hope so, because Baby is only two months old and I really don't want Lulah to forcibly wean her own calf so young Has anyone even had that happen? I will be keeping a close eye on them and making sure Baby keeps drinking plenty.
Anyway, today I searched all over the forum and Google for something that we could use as a fly repellent because Tallulah just looked so unhappy! After checking all the recipes out, we finally decided to just throw everything we had together and hope for the best XD
All together we used minced garlic, herbal mouthwash and herbal cough medicine (both are natural and full of mint and many other herbs, didn't have any plain mint mouthwash), lemon juice, and we finally discovered some very old apple cider vinegar and added a good dose of that to the mix. We put it in a spray bottle with a bit of water to dilute it somewhat.
Well, the spray bottle refused to work (not sure whether it was garlic pieces getting stuck, or what...) so I ended up drenching a cloth and wiping it all over Tallulah. She was scared of the sound of the spray anyway so she preferred the cloth. Stupid me didn't think to put gloves on though, so my hands are embedded with the stench of ACV and garlic
I think it worked pretty well! The flies starting migrating to all the places on her body where I hadn't yet spread the mixture. I tried to get it all over her as much as possible, especially on her sides, poll and around her eyes. Baby was quite curious about the smell ;D
Lulah calmed right down after I had covered most of her and seemed pretty content. She stopped swishing and fidgeting. I don't know how long the effects will last but I hope she's not too bad tomorrow. I will probably had a bit of natural dish soap, as I read it helps stick it to the cow better? It was oily and running off her coat if I didn't spread it in well.
I'd love to hear your thoughts on fly repellents and what has worked best for you! I saw someone here made a fly fringe for their cow and I was thinking of doing the same - just an elastic band with fringes attached, pulled on around the base of her horns. Although it might begin to rub at her skin.
Anyway, I was going to give an update on how they are progressing apart from the flies, but this is so long so I think I'll keep that to another post XD
Thanks!
Tamara
Tomorrow we will have had Rose and Daisy for a week ^_^
We've renamed Rose Tallulah (I'm liking Lulah for short), and for now we have taken to calling her heifer Bubba, Baby, etc.
It is summer here and we've had lots of rain and now some warm days.
Well, a few days ago we noticed flies were starting to gang up on poor Lulah's eyes, and yesterday and today they attacked her in full force. She has just been swarmed with them, sitting all over her sides. She flicks her tail, kicks at her stomach, and swings her head around all the time. She has weepy eyes and the flies have bitten at the corners of them.
She was very unhappy. I think all the flies put her in a bad mood, as all of a sudden she started getting really mean about Baby drinking.
Baby suckles for a while, and then Tallulah starts continually walking off. Baby follows, of course, and make many attempts to drink. After a while Lulah gets really angry and throws her head around and butts at her until Baby finally gives up.
Baby is a really rough with her 'bumping' when she drinks and slams her whole head into Tallulah's udder. It looks quite painful XD Is this normal?
She has had no problems with Baby drinking up until yesterday (20th) though so I don't think it is just because Baby is rough. I think it's the flies that have made Lulah so grumpy. At least, I hope so, because Baby is only two months old and I really don't want Lulah to forcibly wean her own calf so young Has anyone even had that happen? I will be keeping a close eye on them and making sure Baby keeps drinking plenty.
Anyway, today I searched all over the forum and Google for something that we could use as a fly repellent because Tallulah just looked so unhappy! After checking all the recipes out, we finally decided to just throw everything we had together and hope for the best XD
All together we used minced garlic, herbal mouthwash and herbal cough medicine (both are natural and full of mint and many other herbs, didn't have any plain mint mouthwash), lemon juice, and we finally discovered some very old apple cider vinegar and added a good dose of that to the mix. We put it in a spray bottle with a bit of water to dilute it somewhat.
Well, the spray bottle refused to work (not sure whether it was garlic pieces getting stuck, or what...) so I ended up drenching a cloth and wiping it all over Tallulah. She was scared of the sound of the spray anyway so she preferred the cloth. Stupid me didn't think to put gloves on though, so my hands are embedded with the stench of ACV and garlic
I think it worked pretty well! The flies starting migrating to all the places on her body where I hadn't yet spread the mixture. I tried to get it all over her as much as possible, especially on her sides, poll and around her eyes. Baby was quite curious about the smell ;D
Lulah calmed right down after I had covered most of her and seemed pretty content. She stopped swishing and fidgeting. I don't know how long the effects will last but I hope she's not too bad tomorrow. I will probably had a bit of natural dish soap, as I read it helps stick it to the cow better? It was oily and running off her coat if I didn't spread it in well.
I'd love to hear your thoughts on fly repellents and what has worked best for you! I saw someone here made a fly fringe for their cow and I was thinking of doing the same - just an elastic band with fringes attached, pulled on around the base of her horns. Although it might begin to rub at her skin.
Anyway, I was going to give an update on how they are progressing apart from the flies, but this is so long so I think I'll keep that to another post XD
Thanks!
Tamara