Cattle Rub vs Ear Tags.

[Southside]

would chickens being grazed behind cows help consume fly larvae from the plops or no?  i figure they may scratch and spread the manure further into the soil and faster than by rain action alone.  anyone with experience?

It works - but you need a lot of chickens.  Today I have about 500 between layers and broilers out there - the broiler population is about to start dropping.  Anyway - that hardly makes an honest dent in the pies / flies.  Grasshoppers, stink bugs, and other slower, lower insects are targeted a lot more.  At any time however there are hundreds of cow birds out with the cows and in the spring they nest everywhere - they do make a difference for sure, and they are faster moving so they stay with the cows.  

[mike_belben]

Dung Beetle: Walt Davis - YouTube


@Southside

[Ed_K]

 When we were millking we had rub bags hanging in the out door of the milk room and in the doorway going into the barn.And also out in the pasture under tree limbs where the cow liked to bed in the afternoons. worked great 8). After we put them I only had to mist the barn once a month before it was twice a week  >:(