[trish.farm]

One of my brown, welsh x ewes is behaving very oddly in the hot weather.  She is fine in the evening once the sun has gone down and midges and flies go.  She was shorn weeks ago, has no fly strike, has 2 x 3 month old lambs at foot.  She shakes her head, keeping it very low to the floor, runs frantically up and down the hedgeline, then lies down looking like she is about to die!  She has been like this for the past few day.  Once it cools down and during the night she is fine.  She is holding condition.  Worming up to date.  No marks or lumps or anything strange.  Just her very uncomfortable behavior.  Any ideas? 

[Fleecewife]

Sounds like something's biting her, probably midges, and probably in her ears, or going up her nose.

[trish.farm]

I think you are right, none of the others seem to be bothered, it is very midgey here, very damp and warm.  Maybe she is just a sensitive wee soul!!

[Fleecewife]

So am I - I hate the things  .  Maybe you could apply an insect repellent to give her some peace? 

[JulieWall]

Have you checked her for head flies?

[Young Ed]

if you have a suitable barn or shed as many call them then try putting her in there with lambs for a day or two in the shade and cool and just keep a close eye on her and catch her say once a day or so if possible to give her a thorough inspection all over

not quite the same but being a cyclist as well i find that it is when washing my bike or otherwise working on it is when you will spot anything wrong with it rather than just under normal circumstances so with sheep it is when handling them rather than just when leaning on the gate watching them. does that even make sense? 
Cheers Ed

[waterbuffalofarmer]

My advice is check her ears for ticks and if nothing wrong there then call the vet and ask him.

[shygirl]

is she lying down on her belly or side?

[trish.farm]

Thanks everyone, she is very tame so i have been checking her over from head to tail.  No ticks in ears, no nasties anywhere!! Been cloudy and cool today and she has been grazing happily with the flock.  I smothered her ears in summer fly cream (cow stuff but sure it must be ok for sheep, it hasnt killed my horse yet).  Dont know if its the cooler weather or the fly cream but she is much happier today. 

[shep53]

Fairly common thing to sheep acting like this ,  headflys or midges , only needs a small cut to start attracting headflys   , yellow summer cream a good choice or pine tar

[jaykay]

Barrier do a midge/fly repellent, or you could just put some Mosiguard cream on your hands and wipe it on her ears and top of her head.

My goats are being really bothered in the byre, so I'm using the Barrier spray on them.

Horrid little b%^#€*$ (the midges that is, not my goats!  )

[Anke]

Just as some people are a magnet for anything remotely insect-y and bity (like me!), so are some sheep and goats. I have had a goat that was troubled by it, and she was happiest inside when it was hot and sunny, but that may be more difficult with a sheep. She also used to just move around and lie down on her belly, trying to be really low?!

[trish.farm]

summer fly cream working.  She was back to looking distressed this morning.  Applied cream to her head and ears and she was settled after 10 mins.  High maintenance ewe i have!!

[Foobar]

I have the same trouble - midges and/or headflies.  Cream/Tar works but like you say has to be reapplied often. Pain in the bum!!  I think tar lasts a little longer than the fly cream.
Crovect works too ... but sometimes hard to spray in the right place as you need to avoid the eyes.


This year I've been focusing instead on trying to reduce the midge habitat - like draining any areas of standing water etc.  Tricky (in Wales) but what I've done so far seems to have helped a bit.  Now I just need to get rid of the horse flies which keep attacking me!!