Are you ready for this? It's a super-duper rancher secret. Here goes:
Bacon grease.
Yup, I do suggest bacon grease, poured straight from the frying pan into an aluminum can after you're done making breakfast. I collect 3 or 4 huge soup cans' worth of bacon grease at a time, especially throughout the winter, and after that utilize it extravagantly in the spring, summer season, and be up to keep the horses pleased and free of flies. I keep it in the refrigerator or freezer in between uses.
How to Use Bacon Grease to Keep Flies Off Horses
Utilizing this grease is simple, if a bit messy. Simply take the can of bacon grease out of the refrigerator and let it warm up a bit, till it's a little gooey and runny. 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, tummy, 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 an itchy tail, you may put a little bit on the tail head also.
Unlike ordinary fly sprays, which are only good for a couple of hours, bacon grease will push back flies for up to a week. These include regular flies, huge horse flies, mosquitoes, and even "no-see-ums," those small bugs that you can hardly see however bite nonetheless.
My quarter horse gelding, Walker, will actually buck and run around like a mad-man if a huge horse fly lands on him. The other delicate horse, my mustang mare Samantha, develops welts and swellings from fly bites.
Fending off Flies from the Inside Out
Bacon grease works fantastic to keep the flies far from horses, specifically if you do not mind smelling like a short-order cook after you're done. For horses with sensitive skin that are reactive to fly bites, I've also found that certain dietary supplements help ward off flies from the within out. 2 that work well are premium mangosteen juice and apple cider vinegar.
I feed my horses an ounce of XanGo mangosteen juice daily, either in their feed or merely by spraying it in their mouths with a syringe. The mare who develops welts from fly bites is much l horses in the back less susceptible to skin swellings when taking the juice, and the gelding doesn't seem to draw in as many flies. Prior to I found the mangosteen juice, I fed the horses 1/4 cup of apple cider vinegar twice a day with their feed. I have actually also utilized apple cider vinegar topically, typically mixed with water and Avon's Skin So Soft, to keep flies away.
With time I have actually found that the very best combination of home remedies to keep the flies away from my horses is to slather bacon grease on the outdoors and feed the XanGo mangosteen juice or apple cider vinegar internally. Together they work like a treat to keep my horses delighted and reasonably free of flies-- naturally!
The most natural method of reproducing horses is when the stallion runs loose with the mares nevertheless nowadays there are three other primary approaches utilized:
Artificial insemination where semen is gathered from the stallion and placed into the mare synthetically
In-hand breeding, where stallion and mare are united in hand under controlled scenarios
Embryo transfer, when an embryo is drawn from one mare and implanted into another who will carry it for the complete regard to the pregnancy
Allowing a stallion to run with his mares is the most conventional method and the horses have the ability to behave as they would in their natural wild state. It is not a method that is widely practiced in commercial studs due to the management downsides. In this scenario it is never ever possible to be specific which mares have been mated and on what dates. The risk of injury is likewise very high and such injuries can be difficult to identify or to deal with as the stallions usually do not welcome human contact in their herd.
In hand breeding is the most typically utilized approach in commercial studs. The mare and the stallion are united and held by handlers. Mares are frequently positioned in hobbles to prevent kicks and injuries to valuable stallions. This technique permits much higher management and veterinary intervention making sure that the mare is at her peak time to conceive before presenting to the stallion which due dates are known.
Artificial insemination has actually ended up being a lot more common as it is making reproducing with leading stallions available to all. It likewise minimizes the management of the mares as they can be inseminated in the house or at their regional vets instead of needing to take a trip to the stallion. It does require a high level of expertise and veterinary assistance to produce high fertility rates. Numerous stallions can be taught to utilize an artificial vaginal area which collects the semen. This is then chilled or frozen if not utilized instantly and can then be shipped to a mare anywhere worldwide.
Embryo transfer is the most modern of the approaches and has actually been developed or performance horses to enable competition mares to carry on contending whilst still producing progeny. This strategy implies it is also possible for the mare to produce more than one foal a year and does not put the pressure on the body that having numerous foals over a lifetime would. The embryo is taken and transferred to a recipient mare that is utilized simply to produce the foal therefore allowing the donor mare to return to competitive life.