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”
It’s hard to believe that flies have a purpose in our eco system, yet they do. Can you imagine how much poo would continue to pile up without flies to break it down for us?
Sheila has just been practicing for the heat which should be here for the next few days 🙂
Deb, you are always so delightfully practical!.. c
I’m marveling at Daisy’s bag in photo 4. Fantastic. Almost like a cartoon udder.
I heard a chicken (egg) farmer yesterday at the San Diego County Fair say that Muscovy Ducks eat fly larvae as they walked through the chicken houses. And a very beloved weather man and avid gardener once reported that eating parsley before you go into the yard will repel those flies that hover around your mouth. Maybe a parsley rub? Gotta by something!
Hmm, maybe parsley in her feed? I have plenty.. c
Well, that reminded me of something I used to put into my horses feed to keep flies away. A tablespoon to 1/4 cup of apple cider vinegar in the grain every day.
I put this in their water too. Hard to get into daisy any other way as she does not eat grain, I suppose i could pour it on her hay?.. c
That might work. Sprinkle it on her hay. What about sprinkling it on her?
OK, I just read about this. The folks said they saw it at a stable and there were no flies. They had plastic bags (gallon size or thereabouts) filled with water and a penny in them (no kidding) hung up near the mules and horses and the flies stayed away. Something about the way fly’s ‘ eyes work and the reflection on the water filled bag. It would be worth a try….cheap and non toxic….and it even might work. Whatever you do, don’t use oil of citronella on an animal. It killed one of my horses.
we have muscovy ducks and they help keep the flies in check. also use a homemade spray of water, vinegar and essential oils, eucalyptus and lemon work great. spray myself then the cow and the flies hate it. will get you through milking at least…
I hope that Sheila is not having a bout of piggy depression. Maybe Poppy is just getting on her nerves! I can definitely commiserate: during the last weeks of the school year the kids can be like that too!
When i appear with the hose she is up like a shot, she loves being hosed down. c
Oh, how well I remember those horrible biting flies. Everywhere in the barn, the milkhouse, the farmhouse. My dad sprayed the barn. In the house, my mother hung fly strips. Unsightly, but semi effective.
I can’t imagine that many flies. They’re so ruthless.
I must tell you that the first photo with your cow (Queenie Wineti??) with her head in the trunk of the old car is just fabulous. Maybe she’s looking for that suitcase full of frogs that your reader Kim was talking about?
That is daisy. I put her treat hay in the car boot, otherwise she will not leave the milking shed!! c
Just in case we were getting lulled into thinking life on the summer farmy is all fun and games, and smelling of roses! Poo and biting flies – thanks for keeping it real! 😉
C. what beautiful photots today and yes, I too think that is a Robin’s nest..they most always build their nests quite out in the open like that but usually under some kind of cover! That seriously is an award winning photo…you can just barely see the outline of that 4th egg and the color is exquisite! I’m so sorry about those dang flies…Ugh! I’ve heard a vinegar spray works good too but who knows?
And Shelia…What a gal! 🙂
Hi Cecilia, you might try using Skin So Soft by Avon, wipe it on her legs. It works really well. Robin🐥
Thank you Robin, I will find some! c
The Decorah eaglets live cam I’ve been watching are eaten alive by gnats, flies, whatever. The poor souls twitch their heads continuously.
My husband and I like our wine and thus cannot sit outside at all–mosquitoes won’t leave our sweet blood alone. He got 14 bites on one covered thigh alone. Outside not five minutes.
I can’t even imagine biting horse flies. They are the Rolls Royce of biters for sure!
Those eggs are so so beautiful! I can’t wait to see who’s inside.
These are just ordinary flies, the horse flies will come later, i hate those ones! We are very lucky to have the covered verandah, though we don’t have many mosquitoes it is a blissful place to eat, away from the flies.
A sumptuous post, specially those eggs – what a fab colour. I, like Sheila, seem to go from one lying down place to another. You are on my wavelength about the flies – see my today’s post: http://vivinfrance.wordpress.com/2014/06/16/gallinipper/
Love,
ViV x
There should be a children’s book series based on your farm! Oh the stories. 🙂
Blue eggs! What are they Miss?
We think that might be robins eggs, I am going to have to do some spying..c
I remember blue eggs in nests when I was a kid and for the life of me I can’t remember what they were – maybe blackbirds??
Mud, mud…glorious mud!!
Hi Celi, I stumbled upon a great strategy for cutting down on flies in our paddock and where the donkeys hay feeders are located. I had put up some opaque tarp along our fenceline in the winter to fight the nasty north winds. Then I hadn’t taken them down yet when the flies came out. We discovered the files are attracted to the tarp and fly to it. They then fly up to the top where they get caught in the fold over that I used to tie it to the fenceline. The donkeys have now developed the habit of walking over to the tarp when a horse fly is bothering them and it gets caught by the light and leaves them alone. To add to the finesse of the system we noticed yesterday the Cat Birds were flitting around the fenceline there as well – and were swooping up into the fold of the tarp and hunting down the trapped flies. I have to admit to getting great satisfaction of walking by there once a day to squish any buzzing biters!