Fly Strike

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Fly Strike

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pete2

Joined: 18 Mar 2010
Posts: 30
Location: 2 desks down from the copier

Posted: Mon Jul 28, 14 11:50 am Post subject: Fly Strike

Apologies if this has been posted twice today by me......This week I saw my first case of fly strike on my Lambs. The lambs had been clicked when I bought them in mid-May and at the time I thought the click had just been poured on in a line as opposed to spraying in a wide fan as it was visible on the wool, Click normally gives cover for up to 16 weeks. Anyway, I saw an area of wool about 2ï¿½ across that looked discoloured and checking with my fingers was damp and also smelly. For those who have not experienced Fly strike the smell is apparently one of the warning signs to be aware of ï¿½ it is very strong and in my opinion resembles a very strong cheesy smell. I parted the wool and there were the maggots, extremely small ï¿½ only a few millimetres in length. Straight away I cut back the wool and slapped on some Sudacream antiseptic as it was the only thing I could lay my hands on at that time of the evening. Within 24 hours I had managed to buy a 800ml bottle of Crovect along with a fan spray and sprayed them making sure I covered the area where the maggots had been. After reading up on Click I understand it works by mutating the maggots so that they do not develop a mouth and so die off. Unfortunately, in my haste I did not check to see if these maggots were dying or dead and so the Click may well have been working but at least I now know the Lambs are ok and hopefully protected until the end of the season. It goes to show that you cannot be too vigilante at this time of year, I hope you are all strike free!

tahir

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 45704
Location: Essex

Posted: Mon Jul 28, 14 12:08 pm Post subject:
It's bloody horrible, one of the reasons we no longer keep sheep

Rob R

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 31902
Location: York

Posted: Mon Jul 28, 14 12:18 pm Post subject:
It's one of those dilemmas of farming- do you go for nasty chemical chemical warfare or stay vigilant against nasty pests?

Nicky cigreen

Joined: 25 Jun 2007
Posts: 9891
Location: Devon, uk

Posted: Mon Jul 28, 14 12:53 pm Post subject:
glad your lambs are ok Pete - keep an eye on them though. It is a relief when winter comes around and you don't have to worry over it.

pete2

Joined: 18 Mar 2010
Posts: 30
Location: 2 desks down from the copier

Posted: Mon Jul 28, 14 1:04 pm Post subject:
The weather has been so humid (I'm in the south) over the last week and its the ideal conditions for the blow flys - cool weather on its way though!

Nicky cigreen

Joined: 25 Jun 2007
Posts: 9891
Location: Devon, uk

Posted: Mon Jul 28, 14 1:36 pm Post subject:

pete2 wrote:

The weather has been so humid (I'm in the south) over the last week and its the ideal conditions for the blow flys - cool weather on its way though!

yeh for us it's when it is sunny and rainy - ideal veg growing conditions makes ideal flystrike
I've only ever used crovect, and we shear fairly early and that helps - the first year we had sheep we had strike in April, but also I want the wool without chemicals, so we hold off until after shearing

Crovect is good for direct treatment.

pete2

Joined: 18 Mar 2010
Posts: 30
Location: 2 desks down from the copier

Posted: Mon Jul 28, 14 1:54 pm Post subject:
Yes, I would prefer not to use Chemicals and next year will hold off until they have been sheared. Its my first year with Sheep so still finding my feet a bit with them. But know I`m going to put them in Lamb next year and start a small flock. The original idea was just to fatten them for meat but I enjoy keeping them so they will be the start of my flock.

Shan

Joined: 13 Jan 2009
Posts: 9075
Location: South Wales

Posted: Mon Jul 28, 14 2:22 pm Post subject:
I must say, I prefer Crovect to Click. We used to do them in April and then in June again. It seemed to work well.

Marionb

Joined: 27 Aug 2006
Posts: 5267
Location: Mid-Wales

Posted: Mon Jul 28, 14 9:58 pm Post subject:

I treated mine with Clik about 10 days ago. I wasnt 100% happy afterwards as the lambs still seemed itchy - one managed to rub her back along something black and now looks a real mess - and I still havent worked out what she rubbed against. I'm guessing its lice etc and not flies as I've checked her a couple of times and theres no sign of maggots.

I wouldnt have chosen Clik as it has a 40 day withdrawal period but a local farmer offered me some and this was preferable to buying a bottle in as I only have 6 lambs!!

Kariana

Joined: 21 Aug 2013
Posts: 122

Posted: Tue Jul 29, 14 7:40 am Post subject:
Ignorant question - is this why they used to dip sheep? Is it no longer a legal requirement? Does anyone still do it? I haven't heard of sheep being dipped since I was very young.

Rob R

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 31902
Location: York

Posted: Tue Jul 29, 14 9:40 am Post subject:

Kariana wrote:

Ignorant question - is this why they used to dip sheep? Is it no longer a legal requirement? Does anyone still do it? I haven't heard of sheep being dipped since I was very young.

Sheep scab. Compulsory dipping comes and goes. It's been less popular as a policy since organophosphates became largely recognised as dangerous to human health. Poison, dangerous to human health, who'd have thought it.

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