bug sprays...?

[Terri John]

Question - I forgot to ask my vet this morning....

Is there a spray product available that is safe for goats to deter mosquitoes ???? 
We live near a rather large man made pond (small lake really) that has a spring running into it behind our property, the land back there is very marshy and mostly cedar forest. The blood suckers here can get pretty nasty in the evenings and really bother our little herd of goats - I"m sure making them quite uncomfortable and definitely fidgety!

I've seen sprays at the local farmers co-op for horses, and one for cattle - but I think those are mainly for flies and no where on the bottles do the instruction/warnings mention goat use.

[Melissa Johnson]

I am having the same problem. Any where you have alot of brush and bushes = mosquitoes not to mention water. I only have 2 does that havent been bred yet - last year when they were little I was using OFF. I would like to get a glove to use, because they DO mind being sprayed!! The citronella sounds like a great idea. my dad used to use the smudge idea in the summer so we could sit on the swing :)

[Terri John]

Thanks Deborah, there is a .ca for the Shaklee products - online ordering only I think. The deer flies appeared yesterday so will probably order some to try out.

update:
Got the citronella spray yesterday, and a rep at the co-op suggested the garlic horse spray to try (stuff is expensive at $19 350ml bottle). Sprayed the kids with the citronella first (the boys were not amused LOL) and then took them for a walk out near our wooded area, figured that would be a good testing ground as the mossies are bad back there. Well, seemed to be working just fine for the girls but the nasty blood suckers were still bothering the boys... so I grabbed the garlic stuff and sprayed the boys (again they were not amused :D) - the combo of the two seemed to work. The mosquitoes still buzzed around their legs and bellies and would occasionally land on the kids but didn't stay long. They seemed much more at ease while foraging,... until three or four deer flies appeared.

[Deborah Niemann-Boehle]

Yep, Basic H is a cleaner, but a lot of farmers and ranchers use it as a fly spray (diluted) on all sorts of livestock. Cattle people also put it in the cattle's water for internal parasites. Shaklee is an international company, and their products are sold by local distributors. If you go to their website, you should be able to find someone near you. It's not sold in stores.

Terri John said:

Thank you Deborah and Marcy :) Appreciate your responses!

The Shaklee Basic H stuff, all I could find was that it is a 'green' cleaner used for window, etc and a degreaser? I am not sure where it's sold in Canada... is this the same stuff you are talking about Deborah?

I will look for the citronella spray at our local co-op. The smudge idea sounds like an interesting method, hubby works with wood often, loads of shavings around and plenty of used 'bedding' hay accumulating ... Ian wanted me to run out an buy one of those mossie contraptions (CO2) but they are pricey and only cover .5 acres, it's always breezy here too so I'm not sure how effective that type of unit would be.

[Terri John]

Thank you Deborah and Marcy :) Appreciate your responses!

The Shaklee Basic H stuff, all I could find was that it is a 'green' cleaner used for window, etc and a degreaser? I am not sure where it's sold in Canada... is this the same stuff you are talking about Deborah?

I will look for the citronella spray at our local co-op. The smudge idea sounds like an interesting method, hubby works with wood often, loads of shavings around and plenty of used 'bedding' hay accumulating ... Ian wanted me to run out an buy one of those mossie contraptions (CO2) but they are pricey and only cover .5 acres, it's always breezy here too so I'm not sure how effective that type of unit would be.

[Deborah Niemann-Boehle]

You can mix up a fly spray with Shaklee Basic H, which works great for flies, but I'm not sure about mosquitoes. I think it's one part Basic H to four parts water. If you use any chemicals, they will be absorbed by the goat and get into her milk, so I'd stay away from anything that I don't want to consume myself.