Bestoutwest
Well-known member
What's your experience with this? Good, bad, waste of money?
slick4591":2zr9j2b6 said:I tried an IGR mineral last year and felt like it was a waste of money. Flies were as thick as any other year and I went back to permethrin/diesel mix with a sprayer.
TN Cattle Man":3qoafiyd said:Well first of all, using a feed-through type product (such as mineral) for fly control is not a "repellent". IGR is an Insect Growth Regulator (IGR) that inhibits the life cycle of an insect by eliminating their ability to hatch out eggs that are in the treated manure. The mineral that we use for fly control contains Altosid... which is an IGR. Where most people go wrong using a product like this is not understanding the life-cycle of flies. In order to get and maintain optimum fly control you have to start using this product early... we typically will start around May 1 in our part of the country. The typical life cycle for a fly is approx 30 days. IGR's do not have any residual effect in the cows stomach so if you run out of mineral, even if for just a day, you have the possibility to have another 30 days worth of fly problems. You must keep mineral in front of your cattle at all times! Another thing to consider is that different manufacturers of mineral will have different strength doses of IGR in their mineral. The product that we use is Purina Wind & Rain w/Fly Control (Altosid)... they make it in a "Light", Medium", and "Heavy" formula. If you are not using the Heavy formula, I feel that you are wasting your money. Another thing to consider is that it would be difficult to say that just one product is going to give you the fly control that you are looking for... I believe that if you use a couple different practices in your operation (like rotational grazing, worming, ear-tags, etc.), that is the only way that you will get the results that you are looking for.
:clap: :clap: Excellent post and "On the Money".TN Cattle Man":1376mylu said:Well first of all, using a feed-through type product (such as mineral) for fly control is not a "repellent". IGR is an Insect Growth Regulator (IGR) that inhibits the life cycle of an insect by eliminating their ability to hatch out eggs that are in the treated manure. The mineral that we use for fly control contains Altosid... which is an IGR. Where most people go wrong using a product like this is not understanding the life-cycle of flies. In order to get and maintain optimum fly control you have to start using this product early... we typically will start around May 1 in our part of the country. The typical life cycle for a fly is approx 30 days. IGR's do not have any residual effect in the cows stomach so if you run out of mineral, even if for just a day, you have the possibility to have another 30 days worth of fly problems. You must keep mineral in front of your cattle at all times! Another thing to consider is that different manufacturers of mineral will have different strength doses of IGR in their mineral. The product that we use is Purina Wind & Rain w/Fly Control (Altosid)... they make it in a "Light", Medium", and "Heavy" formula. If you are not using the Heavy formula, I feel that you are wasting your money. Another thing to consider is that it would be difficult to say that just one product is going to give you the fly control that you are looking for... I believe that if you use a couple different practices in your operation (like rotational grazing, worming, ear-tags, etc.), that is the only way that you will get the results that you are looking for.
TN Cattle Man":18rgsjsv said:Well first of all, using a feed-through type product (such as mineral) for fly control is not a "repellent". IGR is an Insect Growth Regulator (IGR) that inhibits the life cycle of an insect by eliminating their ability to hatch out eggs that are in the treated manure. The mineral that we use for fly control contains Altosid... which is an IGR. Where most people go wrong using a product like this is not understanding the life-cycle of flies. In order to get and maintain optimum fly control you have to start using this product early... we typically will start around May 1 in our part of the country. The typical life cycle for a fly is approx 30 days. IGR's do not have any residual effect in the cows stomach so if you run out of mineral, even if for just a day, you have the possibility to have another 30 days worth of fly problems. You must keep mineral in front of your cattle at all times! Another thing to consider is that different manufacturers of mineral will have different strength doses of IGR in their mineral. The product that we use is Purina Wind & Rain w/Fly Control (Altosid)... they make it in a "Light", Medium", and "Heavy" formula. If you are not using the Heavy formula, I feel that you are wasting your money. Another thing to consider is that it would be difficult to say that just one product is going to give you the fly control that you are looking for... I believe that if you use a couple different practices in your operation (like rotational grazing, worming, ear-tags, etc.), that is the only way that you will get the results that you are looking for.
Not really, just found out a long time time ago that the only way to defeat your enemies is to get to know them really well... I HATE FLIES!!!TennesseeTuxedo":1lt12uxp said:Now you're just showing off.