★Well, welcome to June, and the flies, fleas, mosquitoes, and ants seem to be on vacation too, taking up residence around your place like it was a resort hotel for bugs! Let’s address the fly situation first. This year, as I’m sure you’ve noticed, it seems like they’ve gone absolutely crazy, coming in wave after wave, interrupting even the most basic activity outside. There just doesn’t seem to be any way to enjoy the little bit of decent weather in the first part of this month before the heat really sets in, and there’s no option to sit out on the back porch around dark 30 to enjoy any kind of early evening relaxation, or deal with any chores in the middle of the day, and so forth, without real distraction. And your poor livestock, if you have any, is going to be just as persecuted by it all, if not more so than you are. We are dealing with it to in town and out on the ranch, and we got ready ahead of time for just this situation.

★Star Bar is a tremendous company dedicated to addressing the problems that come with the outdoor fly infestation that are not only a terrible nuisance, but a health hazard to human beings and livestock both. We have available the full lineup of fly baits, bottle traps, sticky traps and bag traps, all by Star Bar. You can try putting out Ziploc bags of water, which works sometimes, but if they don’t this year, come and see us for the heavy artillery.

★For your horses, we’ve got plenty of comforting fly masks, sprays, and ointments, all perfectly suited to bring peace to your faithful companions who are a little less able to avoid these terrible pests. And if you have a horse or a pony that’s a little bit more sensitive to the sunshine that’s on the increase, you might want to have a look at Gordon’s Horse and Pony Spray, which will treat for flies very adequately, as well as offer good protection from the sun.

But you’ve got to keep your horse in good shape on the inside, too, so don’t forget seasonal worming and hoof care. The Zimectrin Gold and Equimax can’t be beat for reliable treatment of tapeworms. And our fine lineup of Farrier supplies is hard to beat, too, professional level products, now would we supply anything less? We have a complete lineup of hoofcare products that are sure to please and are many decades-old with excellent results, Hooflex by Absorbine, Jim Rickens, Durasole, Tuffstuff by Mustad, and of course, good old Thrushbuster.

★For the fleas that have followed suit with the flies, we have plenty of excellent solutions, and we can’t recommend them highly enough, as we use them with our own pets right here in the store. We also have a complete line of grooming products to get going pruning back and brushing all that old hair and beautifying, not to mention making it just that much more difficult for fleas to set up housekeeping. Add to this are fine lineup of shampoos for flea and tick, deodorizing, and finish up, as desired, with Cap Shield flea pills or Frontline and Advantage drops, and your pets and everybody that takes care of them will do great this June.

But what about all those mosquitoes and ants? Well, thankfully, this little chore won’t require near as much labor or attention to deal with as the fleas, at least if you tackle these pests with the products we’ve got right here in store. Simple solutions. Don’t forget to grab some ant poison, we have several varieties, and a couple of Spartan mosquito hangups that can go anywhere, as well as mosquito dunks and sinkers you can plunk right down in ponds or aquatic plant displays, or anywhere else you want to set these critters back.

★So what would we recommend for lawn and garden weed & pest control? Well, we’ve heard high praise for the Chapin sprayer we keep in stock all year round, as well as for the Martin’s eraser, Surrender, and Sayonara. Add a good dose of Bifin yard granules to keep down the lawn pests, and with all that work you put into mowing and beautifying, you’ll have a lawn that’s got real bragging rights.

★We’d also like to mention that we have a real 21st-century style professional sprayer unit available at a very good price, compared to what more prestigious brands have to offer for pretty much exactly the same thing. Master Manufacturing has developed a 4 gallon, rechargeable lithium ion battery powered backpack sprayer that we can guarantee will save you time, frustration, and of course, money. With a sprayer like this you can be done in no time without having to do manual pump ups and not nearly as many refills as you get down the road a heck of a lot quicker toward being done with the yard duties.

★Time to start thinking about your wildlife too, we can’t forget, especially around this time of year. Everybody that’s looking after deer is definitely going to be interested in picking up a good supply of our own Jupe Mills brand 16% and 20% protein deer feed, as well as the Feeder Max products that we carry, made right here in Texas, also very effective. We also stock plenty of hi quality dried corn on the cob, and though we’ve had to do a great deal of resupply on this item, we’re not going to run out anytime soon if y’all keep on coming into buy it at the rate we’ve seen.

And if you’re buying a lot of these products, you’ll want to protect your investment, not to mention keep your project free of varmints of all shapes and sizes. There is hardly any varmint you can’t deal with if you take a minute to pick up a few items here at the store ahead of any trouble. Varmint control is easy, no matter whether it’s coons, rats, and so forth. Ask us about our Pied Piper dog proof coon traps and the Duke brand paw traps that we’ve had a lot of success with. And rats won’t have much more of a chance either if you put out some Just One Bite brand rat killer which we sell in larger quantities for a bigger operations, or Rodentex, nearly as effective and available in much smaller quantities for those of you that don’t have to keep up with such a big place.

★Here around the first to middle part of June, poultry folks are going to need to look into electrolytes and bigger feeders and waterers to get ready for full egg production from those baby chicks you bought little while back. If you bought them in the fall, your egg laying is going great guns now, so don’t forget that we have plenty of first quality egg cartons, and MannaPro Egg Maker and Back Yard Boost to assure the best quality outcome for all the work you and your laying hens have put in toward first quality eggs. And with a bigger production comes bigger demand for feed and water, so remember we’ve got 3, 5 and 7 gallon waterers and 11, 22 and 35 pound feeders to keep up with the growing need for good, clean, fresh nutrition.

★So thank you again so much for shopping with us, and remembering us as Summer gets going in earnest. Try to stay cool, stay positive, and think about when it will be time here before you know what to get show animals and supplies ahead of time. And yes, that means getting ready for school, we’re not quite there yet, but pretty soon, we can start thinking about fall breezes and some big,  generous rains in September, keep your fingers crossed, and stay cool!