The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Sheep => Topic started by: RonMinch on September 26, 2013, 02:45:05 pm
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Flys are still about! found one of my ewes with a patch on her back yesterday. maggots munching there way around as they do. Clipped away the fleece cleared the maggots and sprayed with the magic blue stuff. She how she is when I get home tonight.
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There are lots of helpful people on here with more knowledge than me but I've not found the magic blue spray to be much use against flies. It works for a very short while but I didn't find it kept the flies off long enough to let the wound heal.
Crovect seems to be the stuff to use from a systemic perspective but if you're looking for something to apply directly - I've found horse "summer cream" very effective. Applied directly (at least daily) it's sticky enough to stay in place and seems to keep the flies off really well.
One of my ewe's had a small problem this year and the "summer cream" worked where the famed magic blue spray didn't.
Might have just been the set of circumstances I was dealing with though but just thought I mention it.
Hope she gets better soon.
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I sterilise the wound with 100 ml Jeyes in 1 litre water. Smells also stops new flies laying. If the maggots have really got dug in I give 5ml Alamycin LA - don't forget they'll have been excreting into the wound!
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Just an update the wound is healing well and the ewe is looking fine. I usually remove all the maggots prior to using the blue antiseptic spray and to date has always been successful. The sheep are protected with Clik at high risk times just wasnt expecting it this late in the year.
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Expect and be prepared for flystrike until end of October.
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Evil aren't they! it's a last ditch attempt to cause havoc until the damn things either die or hibernate. Our in lamb ewes were caught up at the weekend for a health check etc... and two of them had maggots in their feet!
We have one poor ram that had it all around his neck and we were only just out of the covering period for crovect, so they seem to sense when the chemical is weaker and pitch in. We were going to put him out with the girls too but he needed some tlc so we didn't he probably would have had a raised temperature anyway from the stress of trying to get rid of the maggots.
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I think the potential for flystrike is the worst thing about keeping sheep and is probably my No.1 worry (out of lambing season :innocent:)
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Four out of ten struck this year at different times. I use a knife to run over the wound to get the buggers out then treat with summer fly spray which seems to be soothing. Crovect them if its bad, teramycin injection if it's bloody awful. When they come over to me I squirt them with Battles Oil in a misting bottle which makes me feel a bit better, not really sure how good a preventative it is though.
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not had any lambs struck this yea but 3 ewes managed to get struck, not had a ewe struck for a few years now
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Found two ewes this week with a 5cm circular patch of fairly mature maggots packed so tight they were like pencils in a pot between the back legs and just above the teats. Ewes had clean back ends, no fleece rot and good feet. I suppose the flies had laid eggs there because it's sheltered and warm at night. Flies are clever little ******* (insert your favourite expletive) aren't they?
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Before you thrown on the chemicals sweep up the maggots and feed then to your chickens as a free tasty snack. Every cloud......
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I think the potential for flystrike is the worst thing about keeping sheep and is probably my No.1 worry (out of lambing season :innocent:)
Over 20% of sheep in the world shed their own wool---it's only humans that have bred them for excessive wool cover...... years ago sheep would have shed their wool or died of flystrike
Plenty of modern shedding sheep types to chose from these days