[steve_pr]

THis is probably old hat to the experienced, but it caught us out!


We had a batch of flystrike earlier in the summer (not surprising with all that heat) and everyone was treated (fleece cut away and maggots removed) and then crovected to kill any remaining maggots. Having had problems with crovect (and ectofly which I understand is the same thing) earlier in the season (I was told by an apparently well informed observer at our local show that the chemical in crovect has been evaporating in the heat before being absorbed - hence the low effectiveness.  Don't know it is true, but it explains the situation. Anyway, treated with Clik as per the instructions (shoulders, spine and around the backside) and all seemed week.


On detailed insoection this weekend when we still had a few flicking their tails we fould a number with flystrike again.  However, in every case it was low down and underneath, between the vulva and the udders - exactly where the clik would not have directly hit! Another lesson learned for next year, swipe them underneath as well as on top!

[kanisha]

I have to ask as I can't believe how many people have had their sheep flystruck are their certain breeds or some other factor that would account for my sheep not getting struck ( with very much fingers crossed)

Last year i didn't put on  any fly repellant mainly due to the very high probability of schmallenberg being around.

This year with one ewe producing a classic schmallenberg lamb I took the decision again not to use a repellant ( the vaccine has only just been announced here in france)  No flystrike. I keep my ewes and my rams on different sites with very different climates so surely one or the other should have problems but none why?

[SteveHants]

I have to ask as I can't believe how many people have had their sheep flystruck are their certain breeds or some other factor that would account for my sheep not getting struck ( with very much fingers crossed)

Last year i didn't put on  any fly repellant mainly due to the very high probability of schmallenberg being around.

This year with one ewe producing a classic schmallenberg lamb I took the decision again not to use a repellant ( the vaccine has only just been announced here in france)  No flystrike. I keep my ewes and my rams on different sites with very different climates so surely one or the other should have problems but none why?

There are two things at play, I think - some land is less prone to holding flies, high/dry land, plenty of wind etc is not a good place to be a greenbottle so you get less strike. Apparently susceptability to strike is highly genetic, and so could be culled for, but I can't see anyone doing that (me included) with wooled sheep because the risks of having a maggot-fest means that we all cover against strike routinely.

[NLL]

I have treated two ewes tonight, just as you say,under the tail.interestingly the four with flystrike this year are granny,mother, daughter and grannies this year ram lamb,These are the only cases of flystrike I have ever had, I am probably going to cull all four even though I really like the daughter and grand daughter.

[Marches Farmer]

Mucky backsides or footrot mostly likely cause of flystrike, genetics probably negligible apart from predisposition to a mucky backside or footrot .....  I Clik ours as soon as I see the first greenbottle or when the wool's 1 cm long, whichever is the sooner.  This gives the Clik a chance to work through the lanolin and extend protection around the whole body.  It won't prevent the flies laying eggs (look like a cross between fine sawdust and tiny grains of rice) but it will stop them hatching.  May be diluted if put on damp fleece, though, or if sheep get soaked before it's worked its way through the fleece.

[shygirl]

I have to ask as I can't believe how many people have had their sheep flystruck are their certain breeds or some other factor that would account for my sheep not getting struck ( with very much fingers crossed)

Last year i didn't put on  any fly repellant mainly due to the very high probability of schmallenberg being around.

This year with one ewe producing a classic schmallenberg lamb I took the decision again not to use a repellant ( the vaccine has only just been announced here in france)  No flystrike. I keep my ewes and my rams on different sites with very different climates so surely one or the other should have problems but none why?

what does fly repellent hsve to do with schmallenberg? surely keeping midges away is a benefit here?

[kanisha]

what does fly repellent hsve to do with schmallenberg? surely keeping midges away is a benefit here?

Not at all. In view of the rate of progression and regions affected I reasoned that it was entirely possible for my sheep to encounter infected midges prior to the breeding season. This I want to happen to prevent them being exposed during pregnancy

Schmalleberg was officially declared here in May 2012 I had dosed with repellant liberally my ewes in autumn of 2011 and reasoned in view of the official declaration summer 2012 would be a period of high rates of infection due to it being a novel disease outbreak. Hence no protection for my ewes in the hope they would be infected.

I also sent three ewes to Germany for breeding  autumn 2012 none of them were affected but one of my ewes in Brittany was...... the disease in germany seems to be of a much lower incidence possibly due to passive immunity of the now already exposed national flock.

This year again  I held off the repellant if I am to use it, it will be just  prior to and during the tup being in. Subsequently as I don't intend to mate any ewe lambs I would hope to avoid the risk of infection during pregnancy as any ewes in lamb would be at least 18 months old before getting pregnant. Then the only reason for using fly repellant would be to prevent fly strike I am wondering how necessary it is......

[Tim W]

Mucky backsides or footrot mostly likely cause of flystrike, genetics probably negligible apart from predisposition to a mucky backside or footrot .....  I Clik ours as soon as I see the first greenbottle or when the wool's 1 cm long, whichever is the sooner.  This gives the Clik a chance to work through the lanolin and extend protection around the whole body.  It won't prevent the flies laying eggs (look like a cross between fine sawdust and tiny grains of rice) but it will stop them hatching.  May be diluted if put on damp fleece, though, or if sheep get soaked before it's worked its way through the fleece.

There is a genetic link to susceptibility to flystrike and one report (Massey Uni NZ) suggested this was as high as 0.25

[NLL]

all my sheep had clic,liberally applied 3 1/2 weeks ago.You can still see it on some of the sheep, really disappointed in this.

[kanisha]

The one time I used click it seemed to stay in pink sploges and not distribute itself over the sheep. I assumed this was because i didn't have the right applicator. Could this explain why it wasn't effective?

[NLL]

not really as I used the clic gun with the right nozzle. I have never had this problem before.I have realised that I have two paddocks on the farm that seem to cause this problem even though the fields next to these two don't, odd.

[smallflockshearing]

It might be obvious, but if you apply Clik and it rains soon after, it will be washed off, especially soon after shearing when there is little fleece for it to stick to.  The best time to apply Clik is a week or two after shearing, when there is a bit more fibre for the goo (technical term) to adhere to.  And of course if you shear after using Clik then you lose the effectiveness pretty much altogether.

[Marches Farmer]

Disagree on a purely genetic link to flystrike.  If this were so the flies would lay on clean fleece.  They lay on footrot, fleece rot, muck, urine, injuries ....

[SteveHants]

Disagree on a purely genetic link to flystrike.  If this were so the flies would lay on clean fleece.  They lay on footrot, fleece rot, muck, urine, injuries ....

All those things save injuries and urine are heritable......


If they don't lay on clean fleece - explain shoulderstrike?

[ZaktheLad]

The only way to avoid flystrike is to act as soon as you see a sheep with a mucky bottom, footrot or wounds. 
Also making sure you fly treat your sheep well in advance of anticipated fly activity not when the season is well advanced and not in the heat of the day or when it is windy or heavy rain expected.   

All mucky backsides, wounds and smelly feet will attract flies and immediate action is required. Any delay at all in getting that sheep in and cleaning them up will see flystrike appear for sure.   Whilst it can be difficult with work commitments etc to act quickly and easier to think you will wait until the weekend and treat then, 9 times out of 10 this will be too late.