Michigan

[Olive Hill]

Thanks Nova!!
I plan to be at CS!!! Better get things ready for it!

I agree with you on that. I have never seen or been bothered by so much bugs before!

My poor cows are covered with flies, milking time with Bella is not very pleasant too, for the flies would bother her, and she swishes her tail at the bugs, but hits my face too. And she move her feet when the flies bites, sometimes hitting the pail dumping the milk, esp toward the end of milking.

It takes me about half hour to milk her. I do cry over spilled milk.

Daron, have you tried fly spraying her just before milking? If you're not worried about chemicals Bronco is cheap and works well and you can pick it up right at your local TSC. If you would want something more natural I really like DEO lotion. It's not actually a lotion, that's just the name. You can buy it online through many of the tack/horse supply places. It's all natural and works really well. So well, in fact, I often use it on the humans, too.

Everything is extra bad here this year, too -- bugs, birds, coons, voles, mice... even the yotes are coming closer than they normally do this year.

 

[SankofaGypsy]

Daron, have you tried fly spraying her just before milking? If you're not worried about chemicals Bronco is cheap and works well and you can pick it up right at your local TSC. If you would want something more natural I really like DEO lotion. It's not actually a lotion, that's just the name. You can buy it online through many of the tack/horse supply places. It's all natural and works really well. So well, in fact, I often use it on the humans, too.

Everything is extra bad here this year, too -- bugs, birds, coons, voles, mice... even the yotes are coming closer than they normally do this year.

you could try the fly wipes (or flyspray on a rag) to avoid getting it on her udder, too - that might cut down on potential milk contamination.

 

[gladahmae]

eeeeee!!! That's a lot of coons!! While I haven't seen any at our place yet, I'm sure it's just a matter of time with tasty chicks near the edge of the woods. I'm crossing appendeges that having the dogs' yard between the woods and the chicken pen will be a decent deterrent. Either way it's probably be in out best interest to keep an eye out for a .22 since our other rifles have somewhat spendy ammuntion, and would probably make a mess of a varmit that size.

My shade/mesh tarps came today!!

I managed to get the one bungeed to the run all on my own, with a sleeping 6mo old strapped to my back. I'm REALLY hoping the chicks will actually come OUT from under the coop now. They spend 90% of their time under there, which is understandable because the coop and run get sun all.day.long. (And it's only 74 here right now, so I'm wondering about this heat you all speak of?) The other tarp is for over the sandbox. Ya know, if I ever get around to ordering some sand.

I might beg DH to teach me how to run the circular saw this weekend so I'm not dependant on him for future chicken structures. I can see that this chicken business will be easily obsessed over. I'm already eyeing up a small incubator on ebay.......


Found out yesterday that a friend of DH's keeps bees and would like to but a hive (or whatever you call them?) or 2 on out property in exchange for honey. YAAAAAAY! Free honey!

 

[Olive Hill]

I wasn't talking about any one person in particular or any one persons ability to shoot a gun. Thank you for kindly educating me. I am a very reasonable person and don't need to be made to feel, well...like an idiot.
Moving on...

And thank you for kindly asking about two forms of predator control with which you have no experience rather than unkindly stating your preconceived notions as fact in such a way that falsely paints an entire group of responsible, law-abiding citizens in a bad light.

 

[EeyoreD]

And people wonder why I don't like children...

Because, clearly I love them.

 

[vjwilmoth]

Olive, I'm just going to apologize for offending you because it's clear you aren't happy with anything I've said. My post wasn't about you or anyone here. I'm sorry. Have a fantastically blessed day.

 

[SillyChicken]

That'll do, Olive.... made your point.

Lets move on shall we!

 

[Opa]

Knowledge is a wonderful thing and sharing it is even more special. I've occupied this world for almost 70 years and have tried to live life to the fullest. I grew up on a farm, raised every type of animal and bird imaginable. I raised, slaughtered, processed, and ate the majority of them. I've been a life long hunter and the animals I've taken number in the hundreds and almost all I've processed myself.

I consider myself a keen observer of life and as such I've amassed a considerable amount of experience. When some one asks a question I try to answer to the best of my ability and with the caveat that it is from experience or it's my opinion. Passing on knowledge should help the person receiving it, It should make them feel good to have learned something new and you should feel good to have been able to help.

Knowledge that is offered from an assumed attitude of superiority is both pompous and hurtful and I pray that no would ever think that my advise is that. If anyone ever has a question that they think others might think less of them for asking, please feel free to pm me and I will try to help.

 

[EeyoreD]

Knowledge is a wonderful thing and sharing it is even more special. I've occupied this world for almost 70 years and have tried to live life to the fullest. I grew up on a farm, raised every type of animal and bird imaginable. I raised, slaughtered, processed, and ate the majority of them. I've been a life long hunter and the animals I've taken number in the hundreds and almost all I've processed myself.

I consider myself a keen observer of life and as such I've amassed a considerable amount of experience. When some one asks a question I try to answer to the best of my ability and with the caveat that it is from experience or it's my opinion. Passing on knowledge should help the person receiving it, It should make them feel good to have learned something new and you should feel good to have been able to help.

Knowledge that is offered from an assumed attitude of superiority is both pompous and hurtful and I pray that no would ever think that my advise is that. If anyone ever has a question that they think others might think less of them for asking, please feel free to pm me and I will try to help.

This (aside from the optimistic morning posts) is what I appreciate most about you. I know that on the boards and in person there are some things I've said that aren't necessarily in line with how you approach things. But you always seem to acknowledge my point of view (and others), express your own, and leave it up to the individual to decide with the information you've presented. So, no, at least in my opinion, your advice isn't that at all.

 

[EeyoreD]

Interesting, so you admit to having zero experience with both forms of death, but have no problem purporting that you know how each works... including the time frame within which they work.


I guess in all my joking, I didn't make the point clear.

The point is: You're wrong. Poison does not kill in "seconds". Not 10, not 20, not 60. For a mammal, death by poison is slow and painful. Think in the form of hours and sometimes days, not even minutes.

But that's not convenient for the bleeding heart, anti-gun masses. Those pesky gun owners and their inability to be absolutely perfect, we'll just drown, poison and relocate the varmints to death and then display our prized VIP HSUS member plaques proudly.

But what do I know? I only have both killed animals by gun and had the very unfortunate experience of having to deal with animals that have been poisoned.

or the record, I don't really care what method you use. It's when you decide to start taking aim at responsible gun owners with patently false information that I take issue.

Good lord you make a lot of assumptions.