Mighty Mouse, a TerryTune cartoon character Anyone, throughout history, who has owned a barn has had the same small critter invade their premises, the mouse. Shelter from the elements and, by the barn's nature a continuous supply of food, makes the barn a perfect target for mice home building. And, so the barn cat, mouse trap and mice poison become the staple equipment for [...]
The Horn Fly Where do all of these nasty flies come from? These little guys are half the size of the stable fly which Horn flies can bother horses the most blood suck their diet from the back and belly of the horses. They will remain on their host day and night. But the most important fact is that they are breeding in freshly deposited manure during hot and humid weather [...]
Stable fly The house and stable fly are similar in size, color and general appearance. They sometimes are called the barnyard fly. But the stable fly is a bloodsucking fly and aggressive. They bite with the sharp mouth part protruding from the head. Life Cycle: Stable fly eggs are only 1 mm long. They develop into larvae and are hard to see because they are translucent. When [...]
Brenda and her Hippo-therapy indoor ring with shade I do not want to tell tales out of school but I have a friend. She is also a customer of ours at Horse Fly Nets, so we must be kind to her. Brenda runs a Hippo-therapy program at Springfield Hippo-therapy, a facility in Earlysville, Virginia. To run the program it is necessary to keep several gentle and kind horses on board for the [...]
Foxtail plant, one of the Setaria species Cindy Dell just wrote a piece on foxtail which I want to pass on to my friends. Foxtail is a weed of the Setaria family. Cindy points out in her CFC Farm HomeCenter newsletter that conditions have been good in the eastern atlantic areas of the US for the Foxtail plant to invade hay fields. This means that any signs of excessive salivation and [...]
Hay-Shade will protect your valuable hay quality When horse owners are anticipating a harsh winter, most of us scratch our head and try to estimate our needs. Each horse and the size of the herd may change from year to year. I found this short article in a Culpeper Coop Newsletter given out with my bill. It had some merit and I saved it for future reference becauseHorse Fly Net sells a [...]
Are you throwing it away or giving it away? Black gold is the organic material manufactured by our horses several times a day which when composted is the essential ingredient to mix with soil. It is magic that turns dirt into a healthy growing substance. It gives life to an overgrazed field and mixed into the vegetable garden produces wonderful veg. It will never cease to amaze me that in[...]
Bot Fly Larvae Hurrah, most of the northern parts of the US have had a good frost. That is the end of the Bot fly cycle. Or is it? Wikipedia describes Bot fly is the common name for a fly in the family Oestridae or maggots. It is one of several families of hairy flies whose larvae live as parasites within the bodies of mammals. There are approximately 150 known species world wide of [...]