fly control

[Eastcoaster]

Curious on what type of cattle oilers are popular in the west. Does anyone have a good "build your own" idea or is it better to go with a commercially available type.

[nicolaas]

I have some Lewis oilers and they are costly to maintain and costly to purchase.
Some home made ones around this area work well, with a oiler/mineral shed combination .

[grassfarmer]

What type of critters do you reckon it is enconomically worth controlling? We have flies now, but they are not serious. We are getting eaten out by mosquitoes do fly control measures help with them? I have never used any fly treatments here and can't say I feel the need to start given the season is so short.
I notice in the evenings that my cows continue to graze while a neighbours tan/white char x cows and another guys sleek black angus gather in a tight group for several hours presumably because of mosquitoes. Don't really understand the difference as I have some light coloured simmi x cows that can't be that different from the neighbours but don't seem to get plagued as much.
Checking cows in long grass is kind of gross just now for us humans - between the mosquitoes in your face and the grasshoppers in your boots.

[PureCountry]

I agree grassfarmer. It's never been a real problem for us either. There are evenings when we see the slick-haired cows twitching a little more than others, but nothing major. If 'skeeters' were an issue, smudges are still better than chemical in my opinion. My great uncle used to burn them for his horses all the time.

[redcountry]

the horse flies are so bad the bulls lay around all day to keep the flies from eating them alive, we have had to take bulls home from pasture.
The sores on their scrotum were about 4in on each side and the blood was running off them.
No breeding done in these conditions!

we have used a mineral feeder with a rub cloth on it this will help for horn and deer flies but not the dam horse flies