The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Sheep => Topic started by: CarolineJ on April 20, 2017, 01:39:58 pm
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This morning I saw that 4 of my ewe hoggs had rubbed away a strip of fleece at the tops of their tails. They've not gone down to bare skin, but the last year's growth has broken off, leaving them with a sort of short 'tyre-track' effect across their backsides. It's only in that spot and having watched them for a good while this morning, they don't seem to be itchy at all.
I'm inclined to think that it's just a combination of a surprise hot day yesterday in full fleece and being moved into a field with an old wooden gate with a bar at EXACTLY the right height for scratching your bum on if you're a ewe hogg the day before, so am just going to keep an eye on them for the next day or two, but if they do start rubbing away fleece elsewhere or show signs of itching, what's okay to treat them with, given we'll likely be shearing in 6-8 weeks? Ticks would be most likely, as we've got deer coming through almost daily at the moment, but didn't see any on them when I had them in for dosing a couple of weeks ago.
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When dagging at the weekend I had several sheep with loose wool on their tails and around the tail head. I just plucked this off and have lovely short fleeces in those areas now. The same sheep also had a bit of loose wool around the base of the necks. I am just blaming the weather being mild along with heavy fleeces with lots of suint.
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Thanks - yes, now you mention it, there are a couple with loose locks of fleece at the neck as well.