Sheila is being an old lazy bones lately and it is not even hot yet.
I try to get her to come for a walk but she just goes from one lying-down-spot to another.
Her favourite being anything to do with compost. If there is a nice fresh cowpat thrown in she is especially pleased.
Poppy on the other hand is an affection monger. She follows me about throwing herself across my boots, literally grounding me so I have to stroke her belly for a while. She aggravates Sheila endlessly whining “Come for a walk, Come for a walk. Come on I can open the gate. (she pushes the gate until the hinges bend). Come for a walk!” Sheila says, No.
Sheila would rather go and talk to Daisy, another large animal who spends a lot of time standing around thinking.
The Red Plonker escaped again yesterday. I found him sleeping in a mud hole next to Queenie Wineti the Hereford Mama. When the cows get hot they pee into the ground then tromp it into mud – cooling their heels. The red plonker is thrilled to have discovered this. The flies as you can imagine are legendary.
And the flies trail Daisy into the milking parlour. A veritable feast of them. And Daisy is the feast.
I milk the cow wearing my long sleeved overalls so they don’t bite me. I have an organic spray for Daisy. It does not kill flies, (its organic), it repels them so after the cups are on and sealed, I spray her legs (they bite so her legs bleed and she will stomp and kick dangerously in the tiny milking room) – I spray and the flies rise up in a great dark whirring cloud, hover and like some kind of animated horror cartoon they turn their nasty heads, their beady sectioned eyes see me, they zero in, do that million dollar man beep-beep thing then the fly cloud, screeching in delighted unison, shrills across and settles down on every part of my body they can reach. Sigh. So I wear my boiler suit and boil in it. But I cannot bear the flies.
No-one talks about the fly followers. Farm=Poo=Flies. Ah well.
Sheila has no flies on her though. As you can imagine. Maybe I should cover Daisy (and myself) in Mud!
And then on our evening walk
I found this!
I hope you all have lovely day.
Your friend on the farm
celi
The Kitchen's Garden 
66 responses to “Sheila and the flies”
Perhaps a large harness with a leash attached would be good for our beloved Sheila. If humans are being encouraged to walk, surely this abundant creature could use her 4 legs more with the help of a tug or push may be a pipe dream
Oh my! Those blue eggs are fetching! I’d love a dress that color! As for flies, Daisy Deer and Spirit go running when the horseflies get too bad. Daisy will let me smack them on her. She hates them with a passion. Mosquitoes are another problem with all of this rain we’ve had. They cover Daisy’s face and body. The little fawns are already sick of them – makes them just run like hell! Me? I smack and run like hell too… for the house!
Evidently bugs hate menthol. Eucalyptus has menthol. Lavender, all the mints, and pine also have menthol. I got the information here:
http://samuraiknitter.blogspot.ca/2008/11/lavender.html
(I hope that works; I have never done it before.)
*shudders* I have never been good at flies. In the heat of summer when the flies rise up every time I open the lid on the composter…. Agh. No, I have never been good at flies. Best for me to leave them at their work, and leave my work well away from them as much as possible. *shudders*
We use Fly Predators. The price can add up a bit but with all the animals we have it really does cut down on the amount of flies. No swarms of flies here, just mosquitos and wasps! Beautiful photos.
This sounds as bad as Australia! How horrible. Does insect repellant keep them away? Those blue eggs look like little treasures.