my sheeps are getting et alive by mosquitos, anything I can do?

[patandchickens]

We live in a real bad mosquito area. Don't talk to me about 'get rid of standing water', 'use mosquito dunks', any of that -- they are not domestically-produced, there is just this great sea of mosquitos that afflicts this whole area.

I was hoping the sheeps would be basically ok, as they are 95% woolly. Unfortunately the other 5% is still stickin' out -- parts of the face, the ears, the personal areas, and in the case of my ram the base of the horn where it is joining into the skin is a particular favorite mosquito watering-spot.

They are being a lot more philosophical than I would be, but are still clearly bothered. Also their eyelids have paled-out considerably just in the past ten days of increased mosquito activity, and while YES I know I need to get a fecal sample over to the vet asap and also learn to do it myself, I am wondering whether blood loss from *mosquitos* may be contributing too.

So is there anything I can do? I am reluctant to use any kind of fly spray on them, b/c I know nothing effective that doesnt' need to be reapplied at least daily and do not want to gunk up their fleeces. Have thought of tying citronella-soaked sachet between the ram's horns but ya know. Have been spraying garlic spray (reasonably sorta-kinda deterrent, around here) all around the area where they spend their nights, but there is only so much that does.

Is there ANYthing else I can do, or are they just stuck with it til the mosquitos start to taper off in another month or six weeks?

Thanks,

Pat

 

[aggieterpkatie]

Honestly, I wouldn't worry about it. I really doubt mosquitoes are making them anemic. You can try to wipe on fly sprays, but I have never done anything about mosquitoes for the animals.

 

[Dreaming Of Goats]

I looked at jefferslivestock.com and searched mosquitos and found the goat anti-fly collars....

 

[DonnaBelle]

Mosquitos HATE garlic. See if you can make/buy a garlic spray.

Try googling about garlic sprays.

Maybe so 5% sevin dust on their backs, sides??

DonnaBelle

 

[patandchickens]

I do use garlic spray, but there is a limit to what it achieves and I am leery of spraying it continually ON the sheep as my m-i-l wants the fleeces

(e.t.a.- hey, I recently harvested this year's garlic and I have the bulbs all hanging in the garage to cure, I could tie one to each of the ram's horns! Like christmas ornaments, or dangly deelyboppers! He could be the first ram in history to have um round dangly things front *and* back! Hee hee hee. Alas the other sheep are polled or, in the case of the wether lamb, only teensy horns yet. LOL)

I dunno Katie, you hear about caribou being weakened and even killed by mosquitos (we are not in that league but this is not your average 'gee there are a lot of mosquitos out tonight' situation either), and kittens and puppies can be killed by anemia from flea bites, and heck, WORMS can anemify [well it SHOULD be a word] or kill goats and sheep, so why not also hordes of mosquitos?

I dunno though, maybe you are right, I just feel sorry for the poor things.

[Also for my (obnoxious, super-late-maturing, egg-stomping, soon-to-be-put-in-freezer) turkey tom who has recently been exiled to nights in the outdoor run so he will quit bugging the broody hen; I'm giving her another week on the eggs and then Gerald is SO going into the freezer, poor thing.]

Pat

 

[aggieterpkatie]

I dunno Katie, you hear about caribou being weakened and even killed by mosquitos (we are not in that league but this is not your average 'gee there are a lot of mosquitos out tonight' situation either), and kittens and puppies can be killed by anemia from flea bites, and heck, WORMS can anemify [well it SHOULD be a word] or kill goats and sheep, so why not also hordes of mosquitos?

I dunno though, maybe you are right, I just feel sorry for the poor things.


Pat

Well, kittens are teeny, and your sheep are big. And intestinal worms leave open wounds which bleed more than mosquito bites. I dunno, we have a ton of mosquitoes here as we're pretty much surrounded by water. Here, the big concern with mosquitoes is West Nile, not anemia. I dont know though. Try the fly spray and see if it works.

 

[Beekissed]

You could try feeding the garlic snapes to the sheep....the skeeters hate the taste of the garlic in their blood. You can even achieve this by sprinking their feed with garlic powder.

Over on BYC folks are using vanilla car fresheners to banish flies and I've heard of using vanilla extract to repel skeeters....could you try it and let us know? Maybe a spray of vanilla extract?

I tried it to keep the flies off my lambs castration site~they were really bugging him~ and it worked wonders....and he smells like ice cream.....

 

[patandchickens]

Prolly it's 'just me', but I am leery of feeding garlic without study-based information on doseage because I know a couple people who garlicked their horses into clinically-significant anemia (and that *was* following mfr's doseages, btw, of a powdered garlic supplement). If I had a lot more sheep experience maybe I'd say 'oh well it's only for a couple months and I'll keep an eye on them' but I just don't feel like I should do that yet.

Dab of vanilla extract DOES repel our local mosquitoes -- I have used it dabbed on behind my ears etc at night when we were having mosquito problems in the bedroom -- but it evaporates away too fast to be practical for the sheep I think.

I have tried that 'hang vanilla-scented car fresheners thing in the chicken bldg -- it does appear to do some good but of course in a 15x40 bldg really just results in the mosquitoes relocating six feet to the left BUT, I suppose I could try hanging one from the ram's horns LOL, or tying one into the wool at the back of the skull or something like that. That's a good idea, I think I will try it, it's hard for me to see how it could backfire (unless the sheeps ATE 'em).

I also realized something last night in the middle of the night... my worry about not wanting to get fly sprays on the wool is just SILLY, because the areas with enough real fleece to be handspinnable are BY DEFINITION not the places mosquitos can get to So the other thing I want to try today is to see if I can corner the sheep and *wipe on* some garlic- or citronella-based spray, just on their foreheads and under the jaw and on the legs and base of Jose's horns. The only thing is, it'd have to be reapplied daily (based on my experience with the horses) and I'm not sure how they'll feel about being caught and wrestled every day. OTOH they might clue in, who knows.

Thanks,

Pat

 

[aggieterpkatie]

I also realized something last night in the middle of the night... my worry about not wanting to get fly sprays on the wool is just SILLY, because the areas with enough real fleece to be handspinnable are BY DEFINITION not the places mosquitos can get to So the other thing I want to try today is to see if I can corner the sheep and *wipe on* some garlic- or citronella-based spray, just on their foreheads and under the jaw and on the legs and base of Jose's horns. The only thing is, it'd have to be reapplied daily (based on my experience with the horses) and I'm not sure how they'll feel about being caught and wrestled every day. OTOH they might clue in, who knows.

Thanks,

Pat

See post #2.

 

[patandchickens]

Yeah I know, but see, Katie, I am a *horse* person -- for most of my 45 years, fly spray (or wipe) automatically gets put on the WHOLE horse... which in the case of sheep would mean gucking up the fleece.

I am not stupid, just STUPID, you know? LOL

Pat