Bugs, bugs and more bugs this summer.
Fleas, flies, and ticks; but do forget about the chiggers. They are all nasty little creatures. How in the world do we control them?
Well, first we do need to treat the animals and then treat the environment they live in.
Now for small animals that would be the house if they are in the house and yard. If you live in the country, we need to put a band around your house with either spray or granules. Please, remember sprays are OK for animals after they have dried. Granules have to be watered into the grass and then when they are dry it is safe for kids and animals to go outside barefoot. This is just a good rule of thumb to always remember.
Now, something else that can be used around the outside of the house is Sevin dust, Malathion, or other premise sprays. These are NOT meant to be put on the animals due to toxic levels. I have seen Sevin dust put on animals and I do not recommend it. This time of the year our permethrins are creating resistant flies.
Normally that is all we have used. So, I recommend going to Co-ral and use it for a little while, and then maybe we can go back to a permethrin to finish the fly season out. We really need to change active ingredients in our fly control to prevent resistance.
Co-ral or coumaphos is a total different compound than any of the permethrins.
Now to keep a permethrin on and to get it to last longer, I like the oil base products a lot better. Then they will stick to the animal, i.e. cows. If you are using water base, as soon as it rains it is washed off or the animal gets into the pond. Then your animals do not have any protection at all.
Fly tags I have seen these work but none of them will last as long as they say. And for the price I think twice.
I have also had several clients putting these in and ended up at the hospital and the ER. They did not wear gloves! When handling these compounds please, take safety precautions, i.e. wear rubber gloves and/or protection.
