Demon Gnats! (Midvale: co-op, home, to buy)

[mistyriverranch]

Anyone here in north Idaho noticed the gnats this year? They seem to be far worse near water. I happened to be coming home through Newport last week at dusk and saw what appeared to be columns of smoke rising from the tall trees near the river. Even lamposts seemed to be smoking. Except it wasn't smoke.. it was swarms of gnats. I've never seen it like this before.
Our poor horses are being driven insane. Equine fly sprays aren't helping much. Off and Cutters helps for a short while, but can you imagine how expensive it is to spray a 1000 pound animal with Off? I'm off to the feed store to buy some cattle ear tags to braid into their manes. Maybe that will help.

[Toyman at Jewel Lake]

We have issues every year with little ones my neighbors call "buffalo gnats". They are really bad for 3-4 weeks, usually late May through mid JN, we're past the worst of it at our place. They come out so thick in the evening that our evening walk about turns into a run. If you stop they're all over you. One of our dogs has a real issue with them too, we do use DEET on his head to keep them away from his eyes. They seem to be attracted to animals like mosquetos are, I'd guess from the CO2 in their breath. A normal bug zapper doesn't do much good. I may spring for one of those propane-burning ones that are supposed to attract mosquetos, I just haven't talked myself into spending the money. They might help around your horses, co-op has them. (One more reason for ATVs-just kidding Misty). I can't imagine what your horses go through with these little beasts. They have to be breathing them in all the time, as well as getting bitten.

One good thing, they stay close to the ground. Due to the lay of our land, our deck is above a daylight basement, essentially on the second floor-they don't bother us even that high.

At our old place south of CDA we never saw them, almost no bugs except yellow jackets. Not so at the new place, plenty of these little gnats and a few mosquetos.

What do the ones you were seeing by Newport look like? I have seen some hatches this year of what I'd guess are mayflies (I don't really know), maybe 1/2 inch long with light brown/light grey wings. The little gnats I see are less than 1/8" long, with a little hump on the back, like a little buffalo. Hey, I wonder if this is where Buffalo Wings come from???

[brokencrayola]

I have see the swarms of gnats that look like smoke many times. I use to live in the woods and it was eerie because we were always aware of fire, and I'd look out the window and see these swarms at the tops of trees.

[mistyriverranch]

I couldn't say what these look like. If my eyes are open they fly in. When I open my mouth to swear at them..they fly in. Yech. I've just never seen them be this bad for the poor horses.
They are much better today after the storm and the brisk breeze blowing. It's pretty much heaven outside right now. 71 degrees and sunny.

[pimit2]

These “gnats”, sometimes called sand flies or “no-see-ums”, are midges, a group of two-winged insect families that thrive in aquatic and damp areas of our great outdoors. These are 9 separate families. In streams and stillwater, the water-borne varieties are a major source of year-round food for trout and other fishes.

The annoying ones we don’t like to deal with here are from the family Ceratopogonidae, also known as biting midges. The female biting midge sucks blood from host animals. They have been known to carry disease-causing viruses. Biting midges can be a problem for our pets and horses. In these animals, the enzymes in the insects saliva can be irritating - but temporary - causing allergic reactions sometimes known as sweet itch.

The biting variety is usually only a serious problem in the Spring, during heavy rainy periods. They become less of a problem as the weather warms and everything dries out. I would think that ranch co-op stores would have something to help the animals in the meantime.


pimit2 (Bob)

[cleosmom]

Originally Posted by mistyriverranch

Anyone here in north Idaho noticed the gnats this year? They seem to be far worse near water. I happened to be coming home through Newport last week at dusk and saw what appeared to be columns of smoke rising from the tall trees near the river. Even lamposts seemed to be smoking. Except it wasn't smoke.. it was swarms of gnats. I've never seen it like this before.
Our poor horses are being driven insane. Equine fly sprays aren't helping much. Off and Cutters helps for a short while, but can you imagine how expensive it is to spray a 1000 pound animal with Off? I'm off to the feed store to buy some cattle ear tags to braid into their manes. Maybe that will help.

Have you tried Repel X or Liquid Net for the horses? I did read somewhere that if you put a bowl out that has both vinegar and dish washing detergent in it, it will kill the gnats, never tried it though.

We had one mare at the barn that was allergic to fly spray, only thing we could use on her was vinegar/water and that work pretty well on keeping everyone away

[mistyriverranch]

Originally Posted by pimit2

These “gnats”, sometimes called sand flies or “no-see-ums”, are midges, a group of two-winged insect families that thrive in aquatic and damp areas of our great outdoors. These are 9 separate families. In streams and stillwater, the water-borne varieties are a major source of year-round food for trout and other fishes.

The annoying ones we don’t like to deal with here are from the family Ceratopogonidae, also known as biting midges. The female biting midge sucks blood from host animals. They have been known to carry disease-causing viruses. Biting midges can be a problem for our pets and horses. In these animals, the enzymes in the insects saliva can be irritating - but temporary - causing allergic reactions sometimes known as sweet itch.

The biting variety is usually only a serious problem in the Spring, during heavy rainy periods. They become less of a problem as the weather warms and everything dries out. I would think that ranch co-op stores would have something to help the animals in the meantime.


pimit2 (Bob)

Nothing has worked against these things right now. Yesterday was good because the breeze blew them away. One pasture borders the creek and that is where they are causing so much trouble. We've tried all of the sprays and nothing helps for long. At least I sold Lucy, my mare who had "sweet itch" which is an allergic reaction to the biting midges. What a mess that was. She's far happier in a drier place.

[shades_of_idaho]

Some one was just telling me today that the Avon SSS works for them. I am afraid to say anything about it. We do not have any here for now. But Midvale also sprays for mosquitoes so it might be keeping the gnats knocked down too.

Chris

[mistyriverranch]

Avon SSS works somewhat, but it leaves them an oily, dirty mess. All that sweat and dust mingles with the SSS. Yuck.

[shades_of_idaho]

Yah I sort of figured that. When we had the mules we used Wipe. Same thing. My cow hated anything wiped on her. Seems I was bathing all of them often. So glad we do not have the gnats here.