My Homemade Fly Spray for Goats (Only 6 Ingredients)

If you live out in the country on a farm or homestead and keep animals, you know that flies are an unfortunate, constant, and maddening part of life.

In the end, you and your animals, goats in our case, will always have to put up with them to a degree, but your goats will be a lot happier and healthier, and that means a lot more productive, if you can give them relief from these annoying, biting little critters.

There’s no end to the commercial sprays that promise to do just that, but I worry about what creepy chemicals I’m putting on my animals and what the consequences of that might be. I also don’t particularly care for the cost!

Luckily, it’s possible to make your own safe and extremely affordable fly spray using just six common ingredients. I’ll tell you what they are and how to easily make your own spray in this article…

Does This Spray Really Work?

Yes, it really does! I’ve used it myself with great success, and so have my family members and neighbors to whom I have recommended it to. Also, don’t get sucked into believing you have to have some weird ingredients that came out of a laboratory to get effective protection.

I know there’s something of a fallacy that is easy to fall for; the harsher and weirder the ingredients are, the more effective it must be, right? Often yes, but at what cost?

Believe me, you can get highly effective fly-repelling properties from all-natural, gentle ingredients like the oils we will be using in this recipe. That’s because the plants they come from have natural insecticidal qualities of their own!

Are These Sprays Safe?

Issue #1: Concentration

One thing you’ll hear mentioned throughout the article is that goats can sometimes be sensitive to essential oils in high enough concentrations. This is why I’ve made sure to use them sparingly, and not go above 2% of the total volume of liquid.

While there are concerns that essential oils are unsafe for pets in general, there isn’t that much data on goats. Also keep in mind that we’ll be spraying them with these oils, which should be safer than them ingesting them, or applying the undiluted oil directly on their skin. As the article I just linked to plainly says:

Concentrated essential oils should never be directly applied to pets.

Toxicoses From Essential Oils in Animals

So make sure you don’t add more tea tree oil or other essential oils than what the recipes call for. Also keep in mind that, according to extension sources:

The only products approved for on-animal application to goats are permethrin or pyrethroid-based products, with best results from synergized pyrethroid products containing piperonyl butoxide (PBO).

External Parasites of Goat

Issue #2: Goats Groom Themselves…

… and this means they can potentially ingest some of the essential oils you sprayed on them. Whether this is safe or not hasn’t been established, I wish it were, but it is something to be mindful about. What you can do is try spraying it on the backs of your animals, where they can’t reach with their tongues

Tools and Ingredients

You need very little to whip up this recipe. Gather the following and then we’ll get right to it.

Measuring Cup and Spoons: Any measuring cups and spoons are all you need for carefully portioning out the ingredients.

Spray Bottle or Garden Sprayer: If you’re going to spray this stuff onto your goats, you’ll need a sprayer!

A small herd can easily be serviced with a common 16 oz (500 mililiter) spray bottle, but if you have a larger herd or don’t want to wear your hand out, get a garden sprayer that you can pump up once and do a lot of spraying with.

Note that any sprayer or spray bottle you use must be fresh and clean, and should never have been used to spray other chemicals.

Neem Oil, 2 Tbsp.: Neem oil is a potent insecticide, but also gentle on the skin and won’t irritate goats if used in small amounts. Get a modest bottle and you can make many batches of the fly spray. You need just two tablespoons here.

Tea Tree Essential Oil, 1 Tbsp.: Tea tree oil smells great but more importantly has powerful antibacterial, antifungal, and insect-repelling properties. You can use 1 tablespoon in this recipe or a little less, so long as it works out the be at most 2% of the total volume. As noted by others, goats may be sensitive to essential oils.

Mineral Oil, 2 Tbsp.: Mineral oil does not have any overt insecticidal or fly-repelling qualities, but what it will do is help our spray stick to the fur of our goats, meaning it will stay in place and remain effective longer. Again, just two tablespoons.

Witch Hazel, 2 Cups: Witch hazel will help to mix all of the ingredients in our formula and also act as a conditioner that will make them less harsh and irritating if they get on the skin of our goats. Add two cups to make one batch.

Liquid Dish Soap, 1 Tbsp.: I know it seems strange, but liquid dish soap is an important ingredient because it acts as an emulsifier, combining the oil with the water. You need very little, just a single tablespoon.

Water, approx. 2 Cups: The base of our formula is just common water. Make sure it is room temperature or slightly warm to make mixing the ingredients easier.

And that’s all you need. I told you this was an easy recipe! Now let’s learn how to make the spray.

Instructions

Step 1: Add oils. In a clean spray bottle or garden sprayer, add all of the oils; neem, mineral, and tea tree. Remember to measure them!

Step 2: Add witch hazel. Next, pour in the witch hazel. Again, measure the quantity carefully. You don’t want to add too much!

Step 3: Add soap, swish gently. Now pour in the dish soap. Once that’s done, gently swish the contents of the bottle to start mixing them.

Step 4: Fill sprayer with water, gently shake or stir to combine. Fill the sprayer or spray bottle with approximately 2 cups of water. If the bottle holds less than 16 oz / 500 ml, just fill it to the full mark with water. With that done, gently shake or stir the contents to fully combine everything.

Don’t go crazy shaking it because you don’t need a volcano of suds coming out due to the dish soap. That won’t help. Once everything looks fully incorporated and the spray is a uniform color, you are done.

Step 5: Ready to apply. And you are now ready to use your spray!

This works best when you use it to completely wet down your goats. Just take care not to spray it into their eyes, nostrils, or mouth. If you haven’t used the spray for a while, give it a good shake before you reapply, and you’ll be ready to go.

How Often to Apply It

It depends on how much relief your goats need. Note that the idea is not to keep zero flies on your animals, but to keep most off of them. As a good rule of thumb, you should reapply anywhere from every 2 to 4 hours depending on how persistent the flies are.

Note that your animals don’t have to be wet for this formula to work. They can be dry or mostly dry to the touch and still get good protection. When you notice a significant uptick in fly activity around them, go on and hit them again; it won’t hurt them!

Recipe Variations

This is my favorite DIY fly spray for goats, hands down, but if you don’t have all the ingredients or just want to try something new, there’s no harm in that. There are lots of functional, effective recipes out there. A couple of variations are below.

No Witch Hazel? Use Vinegar Instead. Maybe…

Don’t have any witch hazel on hand? Don’t worry about it; you can use apple cider or white distilled vinegar instead.

Just replace the witch hazel in the recipe above with a one-to-one ratio of the vinegar.

You’ll see vinegar as a common ingredient in homemade spray recipes like this, but I should point out that vinegar tends to attract flies, not repel them.

On the other hand, the other ingredients that flies can’t stand probably cancel it out, but I know a lot of folks who use DIY spray that has vinegar and still swear by it. Give it a try, and let me know how it goes…

Peppermint Fly Spray

If you want to cut back on ingredients even further without giving up any effectiveness, you’ve got to try this super easy peppermint fly spray. It will certainly help your goats smell fresh, too!

Peppermint, and most true mint plants, contain compounds that are repulsive to insects like flies. They will head for the hills when they smell this stuff!

Use the following ingredients list and prepare it as before:

• ¼ Cup Vinegar
• 2 Cups Water
• 2 Tbsp Mineral Oil
• 2 Tbsp Dish Soap
• 1 Tbsp Peppermint Essential Oil

Note that peppermint can be pretty irritating, so take care not to get it on any open sores or in the eyes and nose of your goats.

Eucalyptus-Lemongrass Spray

If you want the freshest and also one of the most effective sprays around, you have to try this with eucalyptus lemongrass. Both of these essential oils have known fly-fighting properties, and together they are a virtually unbeatable combo.

There’s even a study looking at various combinations, on cows, nonetheless, that show flies-repelling properties for anywhere between 1 and up to 24 hours (depending on the use case).

• 2 Cups Witch Hazel
• 2 Cups Water
• 2 Tsp Mineral Oil
• 2 Tsp Dish Soap
• 1 Tbsp Eucalyptus Essential Oil
• 1 Tbsp Lemongrass Essential Oil

You know the drill on how to combine the ingredients and apply the mixture. But again, be sure to avoid irritated or injured areas on your goats, and keep it out of their eyes, nose, and mouth!

Something else to keep in mind is that you can combine other kinds of insect-repelling essential oils in different amounts to make your own fly spray, and most of them work quite well together. Just be careful not too add too much essential oil because, as I said, goats may be sensitive to them, and there aren’t any studies done on how much is too much…