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Thread: Kudu Heifer.
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24-01-2021, 08:57 #1
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Kudu Heifer.
A kudu heifer taking a siesta during the midday heat. Note the louse flies on her neck.
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24-01-2021, 10:45 #2
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26-01-2021, 10:07 #3
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Re: Kudu Heifer.
Veld looks good! Do those louseflies create problems - ie infections - TStone?
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26-01-2021, 14:35 #4
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26-01-2021, 22:48 #5
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Re: Kudu Heifer.
Ears posed like an uprated dual speaker gramophone..
She is listening intently but in no mood to get up by the look on her face.
Thanks for sharing TStone.
Ps if I remember correctly, the louse flies choose the soft fleshy bits to settle on to try suck a drop of blood or two.
Irritating with a sharp bite.
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27-01-2021, 09:03 #6
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Re: Kudu Heifer.
My question would be where do they fit into the environment you guys created, the amount of horse flies on the animals in many of your photo’s are cringe worthy to me :)
It’s been many hundred years since the great herds walked that area, since then they’ve all been killed out and replaced with livestock animals, and livestock animals we dip and dose.
Big game farms are now re-introducing the animals but I doubt they re-introduce the animals like birds which did pest control along with the large historic herds.
What’s your take on it, I’ve been living in that area all my life and simply never saw the amount of horse flies you portray, so I see it as unbalanced, some creatures missing from the equation. I know in small bushveld farms dipping stations can be used near feeding spots, but in large open areas that is not possible.
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27-01-2021, 11:19 #7
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Re: Kudu Heifer.
I've only been here 10 years and during that time it has neither gotten better nor worse. It only occurs in summer and gets worse in times of high rainfall. None of the people that have grown up in this area, that I have spoken to, has mentioned that this is a recent problem but I will speak to some of the old timers.
Obviously, not dipping will have an influence but cattle farmers in this area does not dip their cattle either. Sheep are dipped though but not because of the louse flies specifically. While there are areas where both cattle and sheep are farmed, quite a few farmers run only cattle and game.
As I mentioned in an earlier post, the louse flies does not seem to have a detrimental influence on game animals or on cattle. They do have a painful bite though. Dipping stations, as you said, will not be a realistic solution here. In a similar vein, we initially had a huge problem with paralysis tick (verlammingsbosluis) on our gemsbok, to the extend that no calves survived some years but during the last three years our gemsbok herd has doubled and no calves are lost. Obviously the herd built up immunity to the ticks.
I would think that the louse flies are no worse, or better, now than they were before this area was settled.
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27-01-2021, 11:50 #8
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Re: Kudu Heifer.
Those are some big ears! All the better to hear TStone and his rifle with....
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27-01-2021, 12:12 #9
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Re: Kudu Heifer.
TStone - Have you maybe considered putting some tar onto some trees? Over here they do it to give the animal a place to scratch themselves - the tar also acts as a repellent for ticks and other goggas.
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27-01-2021, 12:23 #10
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