Are you ready for this? It's a super-duper rancher trick. Here goes:
Bacon grease.
Yup, I do mean bacon grease, poured straight from the fry pan into an aluminum can after you're done making breakfast. I collect three or four huge soup cans' worth of bacon grease at a time, specifically throughout the winter season, and then utilize it extravagantly in the spring, summer season, and fall to keep the horses delighted g. horseshoe bend country club and without flies. I keep it in the refrigerator or freezer between uses.
How to Use Bacon Grease to Keep Flies Off Horses
Utilizing this grease is simple, if a bit unpleasant. Simply take the can of bacon grease out of the fridge and let it warm up a bit, till it's a little gooey and runny. Then apply it around your horse's eyes, ears, and face. Slather it down your horse's midline, top and bottom. That includes your horse's throat, chest, belly, and the area behind the hind legs. On top, apply it on the midline from the withers to the tail head. If your horse has a scratchy tail, you might put a little bit on the tail head.
Unlike common fly sprays, which are just good for a couple of hours, bacon grease will push back flies for approximately a week. These consist of regular flies, huge horse flies, mosquitoes, and even "no-see-ums," those tiny bugs that you can hardly see but bite nevertheless.
I understand the bacon grease works because I have 2 horses that are super-reactive to fly and mosquito bites. My quarter horse gelding, Walker, will actually buck and run around like a mad-man if a giant horse fly lands on him. When he's using the grease, he seldom responds in this manner in pasture. The other sensitive horse, my mustang mare Samantha, establishes welts and swellings from fly bites. She also seldom shows signs of these swellings when I use bacon grease regularly.
Driving away Flies from the Inside Out
Bacon grease works excellent to keep the flies away from horses, specifically if you don't mind smelling like a short-order cook after you're done. For horses with sensitive skin that are reactive to fly bites, I've likewise found that particular dietary supplements assist ward off flies from the within out. Two that work well are top quality mangosteen juice and apple cider vinegar.
I feed my horses an ounce of XanGo mangosteen juice daily, either in their feed or just by squirting it in their mouths with a syringe. The mare who develops welts from fly bites is much less prone to skin swellings when taking the juice, and the gelding doesn't seem to attract as numerous flies. Before I discovered the mangosteen juice, I fed the horses 1/4 cup of apple cider vinegar two times a day with their feed. I have also used apple cider vinegar topically, typically combined with water and Avon's Skin So Soft, to keep flies away.
In time I have found that the very best mix of home remedies to keep the flies away from my horses is to slather bacon grease on the outside and feed the XanGo mangosteen juice or apple cider vinegar internally. Together they work like a reward to keep my horses pleased and relatively without flies-- naturally!
The most natural approach of reproducing horses is when the stallion runs loose with the mares however nowadays there are 3 other main methods utilized:
Artificial insemination where semen is gathered from the stallion and positioned into the mare synthetically
In-hand breeding, where stallion and mare are combined in hand under controlled circumstances
Embryo transfer, when an embryo is taken from one mare and implanted into another who will carry it for the complete term of the pregnancy
Permitting a stallion to keep up his mares is the most standard approach and the horses are able to act as they would in their natural wild state. Nevertheless it is not a technique that is commonly practiced in industrial studs due to the management drawbacks. In this situation it is never possible to be certain which mares have been mated and on what dates. The threat of injury is likewise really high and such injuries can be challenging to find or to deal with as the stallions normally do not welcome human contact in their herd.
In hand breeding is the most typically utilized approach in industrial studs. The mare and the stallion are united and held by handlers. Mares are regularly put in hobbles to avoid kicks and injuries to valuable stallions. This method enables much higher management and veterinary intervention guaranteeing that the mare is at her peak time to conceive prior to presenting to the stallion and that due dates are known.
Artificial insemination has become a lot more common as it is making breeding with leading stallions available to all. It likewise decreases the management of the mares as they can be inseminated at home or at their regional vets rather than having to take a trip to the stallion. It does require a high level of know-how and veterinary assistance to produce high fertility rates. Numerous stallions can be taught to use an artificial vagina which collects the semen. This is then chilled or frozen if not utilized instantly and can then be shipped to a mare anywhere around the globe.
Embryo transfer is the most contemporary of the techniques and has been developed or performance horses to permit competition mares to carry on contending whilst still producing kids. This technique indicates it is likewise possible for the mare to produce more than one foal a year and does not put the stress on the body that having several foals over a lifetime would. The embryo is taken and transferred to a recipient mare that is utilized just to produce the foal thus permitting the donor mare to return to competitive life.