Today I dusted my does with DE because I was beginning to see some lice on them, and one in particular was starting to be quite bothered by them. I also dusted their bedding with it.
I'm wondering, how fast should it work? It seemed that tonight I was seeing dead ones, so it must be working.
Should I repeat this to kill the nits, or does it kill them too?
Thanks! :)
P.S. If lice don't live off of the host, how do they get onto the host? I know, I drive myself crazy, but I always must know WHY/HOW???
Replies
I wanted to add here that I found a very good product..Cedarcide...and it does the trick getting rid of all bugs and safe for goats, but I was careful not to use it on the pg goat the last month just in case. Its not greasy and smells nice.
Glenna Rose said:
I did not see anyone mention this but be certain you do the dusting in such a way that the goats do *not* breathe the dust. The same if you dust your cats or dogs. They can lick it but not breathe it.
Deborah Painchaud said:
Yes, I did. I had read that it was safe to use with milking animals, and it doesn't show up in the milk. However, I can't remember where I read that. I sprayed them just after the morning milking. That way, there were 12 hours for it to dissipate before I milked again. At least, that was my hope. :) It is certified for organic use, but not labeled for goats. Best wishes!
Hi Patty
I live in Hawaii so I am not sure cold will kill lice...I noticed them a few months ago and am on my second dusting...living where I live I am just trying to keep them from really bothering my goats...I have a small herd but am thinking that I might try Equisect if I don't see some results...I guess I need to do more research...did you have milking does when you used the Equisect?
Hahaha okay thanks for the info!! :)
LOL! That's fine, Kolti. I'm not sure, but I did read a couple of days ago in a Dairy Goat Journal article that each species seems to have it's own lice, and they don't share. I remember it listed rabbits, dogs, goats and people as all having different lice that don't live on each other.
Sorry for changing subjects kinda....but can sheep get lice from goats?
Okay, thanks for the insight. I think I'm beginning to understand the lice. I've never really had to deal with them before. We have had our dog get just a few one year, but that's all. I really appreciate your insight. Too bad I can't possibly shave a goat now. They'd freeze!
Sorry I didn't see this sooner. I've had very mixed results with DE, so it's not like I had any great insight to offer anyway. If I see lice during the summer, I generally just shave the goat.
Great question about how they survive ... it really only takes two to survive for you to get a whole new generation the next year. It does seem that the more goats I shave during the summer, the fewer lice we see over the winter. I keep saying that I am going to shave every single goat in the summer, but I've never succeeded. I'd really like to see how that affects them. A few weeks ago, i swear I found a single lice on a doe, and I was going to shave her, but then I was looking at every single doe during milking and never found another one -- not even on the doe that I saw one on before. So, I think that just leads to the conclusion that their population goes way down in summer, and they're really good at hiding or simply hard to find because there are so few.
-
1
-
2
of 2 Next