I know that there have been several on here that have POOH POOHED the whole thing with DE but I have found that it has cut the fly populations by more than half this year and they have been terrible. I just mix a cupful in with any type of loose mineral 40 or 50 lb bag. I use a glove to mix it as it will cause some dryness on the skin and I hate the loose mineral on my skin too. We have it mixed in to our feed rations that we buy by the ton. It has also cut the worm populations and YES that is from checking fecal samples. We have both cattle and sheep, hair sheep, White Texas Dall sheep. We do some worming on the sheep, but not every one every time. And any that are chronic problems GO..... same with the cattle. We do little/ no regular worming on the adult cows. That said, I have found that the fly populations have been especially bad with the mild winter we had last year; but I will still swear by the DE. Also works in the dusting back rubs for cattle but don't know about the sheep.
Have used the gallon jug fly traps and the sticky tapes in the barn too and they do work. Anything to cut the numbers...
