sulphur (yellow sulphur)???

Hey folks,
anyone feed this stuff or have it as a lick to control flies, lice, ticks, etc? Does it work? I remember a neighbor giving his dogs a sprinkle of it on thier feed and said they never had fleas, ticks, or earmites. Just found what looks like lice/mange on a couple of our horses. Never had it before but about 8 weeks ago, a dogooder caught a couple ponies that were roaming and assumed they were ours and put them in a paddock with some of ours. We wormed all that were exposed to the strange ones and it was time for shots so ours were given shots. We drew blood from the strangers and sent it to the lab to check for diseases, but overlooked the lice/mite possibility. Working on it now, but it wouldn't have happened in the first place if we expected it and had a prevention plan in place....

Thanks, Dave

I've heard feeding cattle sulfur salt blocks would help control flies. I keep it out but still have fly problems.

(quoted from post at 05:59:29 02/28/12)
I've heard feeding cattle sulfur salt blocks would help control flies. I keep it out but still have fly problems.

Click to expand...

For some reason, I can't find the sulphur blocks here. We don't have "much" of a fly problem and never had a parasite until now. Just trying to reduce the risk. We try as much as possible to go natural and it works for control, but when something from outside comes in you just have to hit it hard and move on. Those horses just got doused with limedip and will get it again next week and the week after. But the stuff will always be in the area now on deer and other animals. We don't feed grain regularly, so need a lick if possible.

I thought feeding sulfur was banned here in the
states??

I know in Iowa it was banned for hogs.

Gary

(quoted from post at 06:24:42 02/28/12) I thought feeding sulfur was banned here in the
states??

I know in Iowa it was banned for hogs.

Gary

Click to expand...

For what reason??? Is it dangerous, or taking money outta the flyspray and wormer folks' pockets?

Traces of sulfur remained in the meat which is bad
for humans I guess. They tried using a withdraw
period before butchering. That did not work.

I don't know for sure why it was banned.

Gary

(quoted from post at 06:34:09 02/28/12) Traces of sulfur remained in the meat which is bad
for humans I guess. They tried using a withdraw
period before butchering. That did not work.

I don't know for sure why it was banned.

Gary

Click to expand...

But it never hurt the animals? We won#t be eating the horses anytime soon I hope :roll: .....

Just hate to use drugs when there is a natural solution.

You really have to watch sulpher levels in feed. If it is too high it causes brain problems. We feed a wet gluten feed that is a by product of corn sweetener production. It can sometimes have a high sulphur content. If you are feeding it is higher amount and get a batch that is high in sulphur then it will cause problems.

Here is a few paragraphs on the subject:

"Research has shown that slight increases in sulphur contents of feedstuffs can result in improved cow performances. In dairy herds higher production of milk solids, milk fat, milk protein and milk casein have been reported. In beef herds an improvement in average daily weight gain was seen and an increase in carcase grading.

Excess sulphur supplementation will have negative effects on herd performance including sulphur toxicity and polioencephalomalacia (PEM) or polio. PEM can cause cattle to experience blindness, mal coordination, lethargy and seizures. Cattle infected may be observed standing in the corner of the pen with all four feet spread to the extreme corners of their body, says Prof. Wagner. High levels of sulphur in diets will usually result in reduced performance such as a fall in milk production and weight loss, however in extreme cases in can cause death"

Here is a link talking about the pros and cons of feeding it to horses and other rumen animals. You have to go down about half way on the page to get to the article on it.
Article on sulphur feeding in horses

Watch out for them there "Jumping Lice", they
like human blood...might have to shave heads of
anyone who got close to hoss"es.. terrible if
your wife or young"uns get em!
Seriously: a dairy farmer whom I worked for, as
a teenager, his cows got lice..they seemed to be
in "Spots", or "Colony's".He smeared on used
motor oil, or some axle grease, on the hiefers,
or non milkers...maybe lard on the milkers, it
was supposed to smother the lice!

I still feed sulfer blocks to cattle,can buy them all over here at least the last time i was at the feed store.Is it being banned a recent thing?

Tx Jim, here is an odd one..

Was at the Fair last fall and one sit-down food restaurant had 1 gallon plastic bags hung from the rafters.
The bags had about 1 1/2 quarts of Water and maybe 4 pennys in each one..that was all..
I asked what they were for and they replied "keep the flies away"..
I had noticed there were no flies in there and that was unusual..
There was one about every 8 to 10 feet of ceiling area..
Ever heard of anything like that..??

Ron..

Fine ground powdered sulfur used as a brushin/combin/dusting spray on critters a known method of handling bugs/lice- same stuff is used on fruit trees to control bugs/larva and sometimes same equipment used on critters. Dosage varies, keep away from eyes and nose on you and critter. Horse won"t lick themselves as much as cows so might be able to dust suspected critter instead of of brushin. 4H project calves, cows, horses get sulfur dust treatment before and after showing at times when show area suspect to infestation. Powdered sulfur was one of main ingredients for a flea dust for dogs and cats. Check your local vet supply or grooming supplier, check garden center. Like I noted- dosage varies and Boric acid is/was mixed with sulphur and some other things for organic treatments. RN

(quoted from post at 10:39:23 02/28/12)
Tx Jim, here is an odd one..

Was at the Fair last fall and one sit-down food restaurant had 1 gallon plastic bags hung from the rafters.
The bags had about 1 1/2 quarts of Water and maybe 4 pennys in each one..that was all..
I asked what they were for and they replied "keep the flies away"..
I had noticed there were no flies in there and that was unusual..
There was one about every 8 to 10 feet of ceiling area..
Ever heard of anything like that..??

Ron..

Click to expand...

Ron
Not odd to me. Small community country cafe near me has sandwich bags with water & penny hanging by door. NO flies.

I am a pest control operator. The bags of water refract the light and disorient the multifaceted eye sight of the fly. Any solid object inserted into it really confuses them because they can't navigate because they can't process the confusing references.

Too much Sulphur will block the intake of Copper
in cattle and goats which is a bad thing as they both need copper

My dad who left us in 1968 at age 70 used to take that stuff internally. What for? I have no idea. Nor dosage either. Dave

One summer while I was a student at NC State, I had a job in the entomology department and one of the things I worked on was a trial of water in plastic bags to repel flies. We tested them in and around chicken houses and saw no difference in the amount of flies in the areas where the bags were. I think it's a modern day wives' tale, but a lot of people swear that it works. In this area, a lot of powdered sulphur is sold to people who spread it around the edge of their yards because it is commonly believed that snakes will not cross a line of sulphur on the ground. Every feed store has 5 and 10 pound bags of it, and there is even a picture of a rattlesnake on the bag. Whether it works or not, I don't know. I've never tried it.

Thanks Folks. Done some checking here and found that there used to be the sulphur lick stones but had to be taken away for some reason. There is some mineral feed with some sulphur in it and the mineral blocks have a little in them. No big deal, just spent a half day cleaning the horses in that paddock, doused them good with a wonder spray/dip that is supposed to do the trick in one treatment and gave the whole area a good misting with the stuff. We'll see what happens.

Thanks