[Fleecewife]

Has anyone had big problems with tick-borne disease?  What do you do to prevent and deal with it, both infested pasture and affected sheep?

We have never  had ticks here so it's not something I know anything about.

A friend sold lambs into a tick area and one died of louping ill - vaccination is possible, but how long would that take to become effective?  Should it have been done in advance before the sheep left the holding?

What pour-ons are effective?  What about injectable Dectomax?
Everything you know about ticks will be gratefully received.

[Foobar]

Crovect, Spot-On and Dysect all cover for ticks for several weeks.  Not sure about Dectomax on sheep.  I've never had it on a sheep yet (at least as far as I have seen), only ever seen them on the pigs.

[mowhaugh]

We have a huge issue with ticks here, and have had problems with abortion due to tick borne fever 3 years ago.  We now use Dysect, but be careful with it, it is really nasty stuff - my OH can't use it at all, and I can do about 100 sheep then need a break from the smell.  It also corrodes the tubing from the bottle to the gun, which tells you quite  abit about how horrid it is.  It is by far the most effective thing against the nasty little monsters though.

I don't know anything about vaccinating as we don't really tend to buy sheep in, but if we do, they are kept off the hill. 

Trying to get rid of them is pretty much impossible, I would have thought, although we are looking at options to try to reduce our bracken - helicopter would be most effective but very expensive, or possibly a trailed weed wiper for behind the quad, although there would then be considerable areas where it wasn't safe to go.

[Hellybee]

Country file had an interesting section on ticks last week.  They had sheets that they would dust over the long grasses and the ticks would just hitch a lift.  Like a small bed sheet attached at one end to a bit of wood to give it stability.  Look it up on I player.


When we were first here we would find Ollie coming in with them, he's a Dachsie, but very rare we find them now.   Only used crovect and spot on don't know about dysect.

[SallyintNorth]

We do see the odd tick on lambs, and the collies certainly get ticks on them.  There was one on one of the Jerseys recently too.

We've only used Crovect - note, however, that to treat ticks specifically, it has to be applied in a different way using a different nozzle to how you would apply it for preventing flystrike.  In the latter case you want the product on the wool, for ticks you need to get it onto the skin.

[shep53]

Tick heaven here -    the general rule is that you should always try and buy from a tick area if you have ticks or you can have serious problems ,  new rams I treat with crovect before I let them on my ground .     as said the 3 products are the only preventative plus dipping  ,NO injectable works   , crovect and dysect  ( I too can't stand the smell ,  very  oily and it makes me feel sick eventually )   both work In an hour or so , spot -on  takes  slightly  longer to spread.  My lambs are done within wks of birth and again at weaning , the ewes will be done at least 4 times a year during  autumn/winter .     All my hill ewes have louping ill vaccine every 2yrs  , most flocks start as ewe hoggs in the spring when they come back from winter grazings , I start in oct with my gimmers ready for tupping in late nov   , 1ml under the skin  then repeat 2 years later  , the vaccine comes in 20 ml bottles costing about £4 a dose  , maybe £5 if you only buy 1 bottle .     You can still get  tick pyaemia which causes  joint ill in  lambs and ewes /rams   ( forgot to say I do rams as well but not until  the spring incase they get a temp from the vaccine )   ..         Cutting/killing  as much rank growth and  treating with pour on can reduce numbers but never eradicate ..       

[ScotCat]

shep53: how long does spot-on take to have effect? is it a special spot-on product for sheep specifically?

[devonlady]

Guinea fowl will eat ticks for a pastime.

[clydesdaleclopper]

Guinea fowl will eat ticks for a pastime.

I was just about to say the same thing 

[mowhaugh]

Guinea fowl will eat ticks for a pastime.

That's interesting, I didn't know that - we would need about a million though!

[shep53]

shep53: how long does spot-on take to have effect? is it a special spot-on product for sheep specifically?

  2-3hrs , for sheep and cattle it is called ( zoetis ) coopers spot - on and is applied the same way as in dogs eg on the skin  mid shoulder

[Fleecewife]

Thank you all - I knew I could rely on you for good info     There are some really helpful answers in there.  You wonder how shepherds managed in tick areas before the days of dips and pour-ons - what a nightmare.

I hate ticks, especially when wild camping and they get in the strangest nooks and crannies of the human body    yuch