[Backinwellies]

Running out of ideas !!

I have 2 sheep which got very small nicks whilst being shorn. (nothing notable)   Also one which got ear nicked (a bit more serious)

Now a week later I am losing the battle to flies ... the two minor nicks are now 2 inch across wounds.

I have been applying 'yellow gunge' daily  and sprayed with Cliczin..... and today resorted to  trying human insect repellant.....  I have never had an issue which yellow gunge didnt sort before .....

The ear I have gunged and tried bandaging .... which works till bandaged falls off! ... going to try a sock tied on today!

Ideas please

[Verdant monach]

Hi, sorry to hear you're having problems. I use Rosemary oil around woulds after washing out with saline, and sometimes honey directly on the would. It sounds counter intuitive because the sugar in honey attracts flies right? My experience has been that the flies get stuck and stay away, and the wound heals nicely. I also use bio coconut oil over a seni-healed wound as it's a natural anti-bacterial,, but if you don't get to a wound in time, or its not responding to the treatment you give, you've probably already realised it will need antibiotics. Best of luck.

[shep53]

Pine tar or Stockholm tar  both  stay put on the wound ,cover it and protect from further biting  . Most of the damage is done by the sheep itself  eg  a fly lands on the wound and bites so the sheep either uses its feet or teeth to get rid which then damages the wound , and repeat many many times  or you apply a product that stings so the sheep gets rid and so the cycle goes on  . Put plenty of tar on to soothe and the flies cant bite or irritate  . Pine tar is antibacterial & anti inflammatory  comes in a spray can

[sheeponthebrain]

Have u tried crovect? Crovect is an insecticide  but clik and clikzin are nerve agents. Crovect will stop the flys landing where clik allows the flys to land just stops the maggots from being able to ever feed.

[twizzel]

Spotinor is a fly repellent, I have had good results with it but careful of the meat with hold, as it’s quite long for sheep. Other than that, blue spray to dry up the wounds, and summer fly cream. Sometimes the more you fiddle with it the worse it gets.

[shep53]

Crovect is a nerve toxin and should not be put on open wounds  ,clix etc are growth inhibitors    , niether stop black flies land and biting , yes they may die after landing on crovect but having bitten then they already have irritated the sheep  . Crovect works in the fleece lanolin and on an open wound there is no wool or lanolin to hold it in place , clix etc  binds to the fleece .   Spot-on / spotinor works in the skin layer  so again in an open wound there is no alive skin  . You must cover the wound to stop biting flies being attracted  , if you want a bandage on an ear then you need to go right around the neck to hold it firmly in place

[Penninehillbilly]

Just been reading an old post where someone put a stretchy t-shirt on a sheep to protect a wound?
I use diluted jeyes fluid sprayed as a preventative (this year been using a horse fly repellent, all lined up at trough and I walk behind them giving them a quick spray).
I get bitten by horsefles, and someone said they used diluted Dettol, it works, so may work with sheep?I
Then of course Sudacrem, suggested by someone on here and now my go-to treatment for most things, on myself as well, takes the itch out of these flybites. Leaves a white waterproof coating on the sore.


Just another thought, depending on where the damage is, I've recently seen a post where they used a dogs 'cone of shame', on a sheep?

[Twotwo]

One of my ewes get really irritated by flies and can scratch with her feet making open wounds (I trim her feet if they are sharp) particularly when her fleece is short after shearing. I have found blue spray twice a day for a couple of days followed by yellow fly cream, backed up by injection of metacam seems to work.

[SallyintNorth]

We use either blue spray (antibiotic) or purple spray (antiseptic) on shearing nicks at the time, then keep a close eye.  Stockholm tar if necessary (which is rare here for shearing nicks, but is sometimes necessary for foot/leg wounds) and your favourite fly repellent if needed. 

Agree other comments about Clik, useless to stop flies.

Crovect does have a fly repellent action but be aware it will sting on damaged skin and can cause cracking / hardening, so you need to keep an eye and be ready to use Sudocrem or similar to treat skin which cracks or hardens. 

With where you are now, I'd be cleaning the wounds thoroughly, flushing out with salty water, apply fly repellent.  Use Stockholm tar on clean wound if necessary.  (But wounds will probably benefit from daily cleaning for a few days first, by the sound of things.) 

If you need to get them out of the way of flies' attentions for a few days while you get the wounds clean and healing established, do you have an airy barn they could go in? 

If you have or can get the Red Fly Traps to hang nearby, they really do catch a lot of flies.  Or for indoors, if the flies are still pestering, the zapper thingies they use in restaurants do work.

Non-chemical fly repellents (such as citronella) need reapplying daily at least.  I haven't used any of the "yellow gunge"s so can't compare their usefulness to other options.

Spot-On works for keeping flies away but is heavy-duty chemicals so comes with lengthy meat withdrawal, and cannot be used in sheep producing milk for human consumption.  (Although cattle have 0 milk withdrawal, so it's probably that they haven't done the testing.) 

[SallyintNorth]

I think I would use Crovect on the head of the one with the ear nick.  In Cumbria we used to use Crovect on heads for the head flies, saved a lot of problems and wounds. 

[suzi]

i caught my girl not amazingly this morning im sad to say. my plan was give a shot of matacam because it would have hurt.
i cleaned, purple sprayed then covered in bees wax which has tea tree and rosemary in it.
i dont expect any issues with it all all. just me feeling very guilty i hurt her
i also used crovec on her.

[Fleecewife]

[member=26580]Backinwellies[/member] if you need to bandage awkward areas like heads, then self-cling bandages are the best.  We have had several 'ah, Jim lad' sheep sporting jaunty red or blue bandages over eyes and ears.  The bandage conforms to the body shape and clings to itself.  Vets and pharmacies sell them. Great for people too!
I agree about Sudocrem - so much more user friendly than tar.