Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Not Much To Report

Mostly Rain

And the Boys seem to have spent most of the day under shelter in the barn.  The rain was not constant but when it rained, it poured, so I  don't blame them. 

I did not put on their fly masks today because of the weather.  But I did note that Chance kept his on all day yesterday, so losing it the other day was probably an accident.  Good thing as of the three horses, the flies seem to bother him the most. That's probably because of his huge white blaze since flies seem to be attracted to light colors.

I went to pick up my contact lenses at my eye doctor in the afternoon and it turns out he has moved to a farm area where there are quite a few horses nearby. Like all of us, he's been having fly problems this year--he has steer on his property.  But he's used the fly predators and all the methods recommended with minimal success.  The trouble has been the greenhead/wood and field flies, most of which do not breed in the animal waste.  They thrive in the wet/ swampy ground.  We had an especially wet spring which was ideal for those critters. 

But here's the cool discovery I made. My doctor said someone suggested he put some copper pennies in clear plastic bags, fill the bags with water and then put them all over where the flies were gathering.  To his surprise, it worked!!! I have since researched this and apparently there actually may be some truth to this method. Supposedly because of the flies' eye structure, the prism effect of the water and pennies disturbs their vision and somehow convinces them there are predators about....or something to that effect. 

Anyone ever try this?

Be assured I am going to try it tomorrow.  I have plenty of pennies and a good selection of baggies that will work fine. If it works my place will become Plastic Bag City!!

Stay tuned. 

4 comments:

  1. hmmm... I remember a couple years back some barn mates hanging baggies with water and pennies in some stalls during a particularly bad fly year. (I installed a fan)

    Unfortunately I don't remember one way or another whether or not it worked! (not much help I am!!)

    Hope it works for you... at the very least it can't hurt!

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  2. I've never heard of the pennies in bags but I'll be waiting to hear if it worked for you. I'm willing to try anything.

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  3. Let us know if that works...any tricks for getting rid of mosquitos...they are horrible this year in Oregon.

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  4. I've heard of this method, and I've heard positive and negative reviews of it.... some people swear by it, some say it's bunk. I've never tried it myself. It certainly can't hurt, so I say give it a try. If it works I'll be joining you in Plastic Bag City!

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