Diesel fuel repels flies

Spring and summer bring lush foliage, blue skies, warm sunshine and long days of planting. With the arrival of the warm months, however, also comes the incessant torment of flies. Black flies, brown flies, horseflies, deer flies; all emerge at this time to wreak havoc on every farmer's animals.

The tags on a newly purchased cattle rub recommend citronella pyrethrum or any other similar insecticide insecticide, but flies will often inevitably still find their way through such defenses. However, although you won't find it listed on the tags of cattle rub, an almost infallible fly deterrent is ordinary diesel fuel. My grandfather has been using this method, which we refer to as a "folk remedy," for as long as I can remember with excellent results. In fact, we have found that nothing works better than diesel in preventing flies.

Diesel is a simple and effective means to repel flies and other insects that torment the animals of the farm. For those farmers who have a ready diesel supply to power tractors and tillers, it is also a convenient source of fly deterrent. Diesel works like any other fly repellent ; it is poured onto a cattle rub and left for the cows to cover themselves with. Its only drawback is the fact that if any is spilled on one's clothes while soaking the rub, they will forever smell of diesel. Therefore it is often best to set aside some clothes and reserve them only for the pouring of diesel.

Animals quickly learn that the smell of diesel translates to mean no flies. Every afternoon during the warm months, our cows can be found sitting around the rub, soaking up the sun with very few flies to bother them. The ground around the rub is constantly torn up; visual testament to the amount of time the cows spend there.

The smell of diesel is strong enough that it penetrates through the air creating a "fly free" zone all around the rub. At our home we apply diesel to a rub once a week and that seems to suffice. Reducing the amount of flies also reduces the spread of pink eye and other such ailments and succeeds in giving our cows a better quality of life.