[Bionic]

I wasn't sure whether to post this in sheep or crafts for the spinners
 
Anyway, if you spin your fleece I am assuming that you only use Clik after shearing. In that case when do you shear and whats the risk of fly strike before shearing?

[Fleecewife]

The recommendation is to leave it at least 3 months after applying any anti-flystrike preparation before shearing.  This applies to fleece which is not going to be spun as well, as shearers and wool handlers would be exposed to the toxic chemicals just as much as a hand spinner.   I don't use Clik, but if its withdrawal is longer then 3 months then I would steer clear of using it at any point in the current year, before shearing
 
What I do is to use Crovect on the lambs as needed - sometimes as early as May if it's warm and humid.  They will not be shorn so there's no problem there.   For the ewes, we crutch them at the time the lambs are dosed (you wouldn't be using that bit of fleece anyway) and keep a very close eye on them for signs of flies buzzing around them, hiding from flies, twitching, stamping and so on.  Any sheep which has been struck would be treated with Crovect and the fleece destroyed.  If we used outside shearers then we would let them know which sheep had been treated so they would be able to protect themselves from the chemical.
 
We hand shear with blades so the sheep is left with a little wool for the Crovect to attach to, but machine clipped animals are usually left until they have an inch or so of regrowth before treating.  Before that, they are clean and the wool isn't long enough for flies to lay in.

[FiB]

thanks, I was thinking about this too - so you dont dose preventatively Fleecewife?  I was hoping not to either (didnt last year and got away with it), although mine are all scratching again so going to have to do SOMETHing (usually biting lice).  How soon after lambing can I shear?  I will be blade shearing too and can do them one by one when we all feel like it, but I would prefer to go earlyish and then crovect or spot on for lice straight after (and not crovect in the blowfly prevention pattern). 

[SallyintNorth]

Flystrike is generally a much bigger risk with lambs than with ewes, and most lambs won't be getting shorn this year, so you can Crovect or Vetrazin (or whatever prep you are using) on this year's lambs whenever you want.

We don't use Clik as it is so harmful to the environment.

For ewes, we use Crovect if need be, a couple of weeks after shearing when there is a little wool growth is best.  Some years there isn't much of an issue and we don't Crovect them unless we are seeing problems.  The last few years we have just Crovected their heads to keep the flies off horn buds and eyes.

The best measure is to keep ewes' and especially lambs' backends clean at all times - dag whenever you have them handy and see a mucky backside.  Use a good quality mineral drench if you put them onto fresh rich pasture, and keep them wormed and fluked as appropriate, to minimise runny poo.

Another tactic is to clip out twin-bearing ewes underneath and behind, typically when you worm them, to keep the flies down around the udder and the ewes' backends.  Then for the most part you just need to be watching the lambs for any indications of strike and treating immediately.

As a first-timer, not yet practised in spotting flystrike, I would advise you to clip out your ewes, dag any lambs' backends when you see mucky ones, treat lambs with Crovect or Vetrazin or similar as soon as there are flies about and certainly as soon as you have any strucken.  Work out how long the cover will last, think about withdrawal periods; sometimes you need to treat twice in a season so have to judge when to have a risk period or have lambs that are fit to go not able to be sold as they are in a withdrawal period.

Be aware also that the period of cover assumes 'normal weather conditions' - the last few years have been so wet that the efficacy of the products has been much reduced.  (But then there are usually less flies about in the rain.  Unless it's warm muggy rain, which they seem to love.)

Be on top of worming, take action if you are getting runny poo and mucky backends, not just to clean up dirty fleece but to minimise the wet poo.

Crossposted with Fleecewife

[SallyintNorth]

Fi, itchy ewes with big fleeces as the weather warms up, and/or is wet, could be no more than a kind of sweaty heat itch - much as you would feel if you were wearing a greatcoat when it was not really cold enough to need one.

Others will know more about shearing early than me - it's not normally something we can contemplate up here in the "frozen wastes" - but you certainly don't want to do it while your ewes are struggling to eat enough for themselves and to make milk for their lambs; making a new fleece takes a lot of energy , and so does keeping warm once the old fleece is removed, unless the weather is nice .

[FiB]

Fi, itchy ewes with big fleeces as the weather warms up, and/or is wet, could be no more than a kind of sweaty heat itch - much as you would feel if you were wearing a greatcoat when it was not really cold enough to need one.

Others will know more about shearing early than me - it's not normally something we can contemplate up here in the "frozen wastes" - but you certainly don't want to do it while your ewes are struggling to eat enough for themselves and to make milk for their lambs; making a new fleece takes a lot of energy , and so does keeping warm once the old fleece is removed, unless the weather is nice .

mmm - it's going to be a hard call for some of my flock - our latest possible lamb could be August 4th!!!!!!  I was wondering whether it was traditional to wait 4-6 weeks or something for that reason (lots of energy needed for milk).  I (I say I - I mean The singing shearer sheared 12 and I did 2!!!!!!!)sheared mid may last year but they were shearlings.  Will play it be the weather - interesting that they do scratch without it necessarily being lice...    Cheers, Fi

[Fleecewife]

thanks, I was thinking about this too - so you dont dose preventatively Fleecewife?  I was hoping not to either (didnt last year and got away with it), although mine are all scratching again so going to have to do SOMETHing (usually biting lice).  How soon after lambing can I shear?  I will be blade shearing too and can do them one by one when we all feel like it, but I would prefer to go earlyish and then crovect or spot on for lice straight after (and not crovect in the blowfly prevention pattern).

We do treat preventatively - lambs in May, older animals immediately after shearing, then all are retreated every six weeks (Crovect needs repeating more frequently than the longer acting preps, although others have quoted 8weeks).   The only time our adult sheep are left without protection is as they wait to be ready to shear.  We mostly keep Hebrideans which tend not to get struck ( ) often, unless they have very woolly tails, but we also have Shetlands which seem able to hide maggots.
 
Flystrike is so horrible that we wouldn't wait even a day beyond the due date for application to make sure they don't get struck.
 
We have had no strike since using this regime, just the occasional patch of eggs laid but they don't develop because of the Crovect.  The worst strike we ever did have was years ago in a 'fleece special' crossbred ewe lamb with the most amazing dense fleece who had tiny maggots over half her body.  It took me hours, literally, to shear off all that lovely fleece and scrape off every maggot, then apply Crovect to make sure none had escaped (they make off into the fleece at an alarming rate  )  She did survive but I was kicking myself for ages for not having caught it before the eggs hatched.  That incident is why we always treat our lambs well before the ewes.

[Blacksheep]

We use a herbal spray to deter flies pre shearing,  it is a concentrated liquid that you dilute with water to make a bottle of spray and goes a long way. Obviously you can't just spray and forget like the chemical ones, but need to redo if it rains and every few days.  Barrier make an organic safe spray specifically for sheep which I think lasts a few weeks, which should be ok to use also. This at least means the fleece isn't contaminated with chemicals.  We have used chemical sprays/pour ons after shearing, however stopped doing this a few years back and haven't had any problems of shorn sheep getting fly strike, just sometimes need to do the rams heads to prevent head fly if we see a problem.    Have been told though that we should do the ewes after shearing with something like Crovect as it would keep flies away from their udders and help prevent mastitis, so interested on any views on that.

We also just use the herbal spray on fat lambs so there are no problems with going to slaughter. Easy to just give them a quick spray if they are being fed at a trough. Also use it on the show sheep as safer for handling them - I have been made ill by Crovect so am now more wary of using it, or handling the sheep that have been treated with it recently.

ps just remembered that the spray that we use is called dynamite, you only need to add a few mls to a litre of water and a little goes a long way, and is relatively cheap too.  However we do live in a fairly exposed location so may have less fly problems than some areas maybe, although do see flystrike if we don't take action on unshorn sheep and lambs.

[Bionic]

thanks Blacksheep. I will have a look for dynamite and see what I think

[Blackbird]

Very interesting and informative thread people - I've been tussling with the same question as Bionic. My sheep (5 Dartmoors, 1Heb x and 3 Shetlands) are scratching like mad and huffing and puffing in warm weather. Also Mucky Bum who has had a clean and dry rear all winter has now started with the runs again - no worm in the FEC sample so have to assume it's the new grass (Vet says he has a delicate hindgut).

So..... my plan is get them shorn asap (I have a shelter in case of any late cold spell) then spray with Crovect. Meantime, I've clipped all bums and bellies and will keep spraying with the Barrier Blowfly Repel (though the Dynamite stuff looks like much better value for money). I will have to keep Mucky Bum's rear washed too - he was the only one to get flystrike last year (came back from shearing with maggots on his belly - which I hadn't clipped). I was absolutely mortified, though fortunately they were just in the wool and hadn't reached the skin.

[zwartbles]

http://www.barrier-biotech.com/product.php?pid=BR

not tried it yet but here's where to get it !!