Neem oil as a fly repellent and possible allergic reaction
Sept 4, 2018 20:13:01 GMT -5
grammagrace likes this
Post by leapingslug on Sept 4, 2018 20:13:01 GMT -5
Hi All, I have just joined the group. I have a single 2 year Jersey first fresher who just calved a healthy bull calf from an Angus parent. Im hand milking her. I live near Arcata, CA. which is 350 miles north of San Francisco on the pacific ocean. My cow is losing hair and it may be associated with the use of neem oil. I have been using neem oil on her to keep flies off, and it worked quite well and wasnt too pricy in bulk, and she likes it. But now after a month of use I am seeing an irritation on the ears and the spine and rump near the tail bone, where I put a lot of oil. I actually rub it all over her, belly, flanks, bag, etc., and no hair loss there, but those spots I earlier mentioned are now losing lots of hair. So I stopped using it there. She has a good access to complete minerals and she gets lots of supplemental produce from my garden , plus green pasture here on the pacific northwest coast in far northern California, and I also give her alfalfa hay. So I doubt she is deficient nutritionally. I think she is haveing the hair loss as some kind of alergic reaction or perhaps it is a kind of mange or other parasite. Can anyone say anything to guide me on this? Has anyone used Neem oil and if so how did you like it, and did it create hair loss? Amoung its many uses neem oil is used to help hair growth and condition the skin on humans. It is further considered edible. It is anti fungal. It does a great job on flies. It is used as an organic pesticide also. Other than this hair loss, she is a sweet happy gal. I guess I will stop the neem and see what happens and switch to permethrin type fly dust. Or perhaps someone has an effective least toxic alternative fly control suggestion. I would much rather use the neem oil for flies than the permethrin dust, if the neem oil is not the source of the irritation. Has anyone used any other essential oils or natural fly control methods that you liked?