[crobertson]

As mentioned in a previous post one of our ewes was itchy which turned out she was struck by fly strike at the weekend. Luckily we caught it earlier (only 2 maggots), clipped the area and treatment with crovect. The ewe remained very subdued even though treated, teeth grinding and this morning was completely separate from the others, lethargic and not wanting to get up and graze.

We took her to the vet this afternoon as this morning my gut instinct was theres not much life left in her even though treated. The vet had a look at her, said we did a good job of catching and treating early but gave a pain killer and antibiotic injection anyway as the temperature was high. Once home I noticed a couple of maggots in the trailer and instantly thought us (and the vet) have missed a small stricken spot. We have spent hours de-maggoting this ewe which turns out has flystrike all down one side and is acting pretty much at deaths door.

The main reason for this post is the strike is at the back of her neck BUT the fleece showed no discolouration, no shedding, it was only when physically parted right down to the skin that we were horrified but the amount and extent of maggots - we're not even sure she'll make it until morning.

PLEASE PLEASE check your sheep several times daily in this wet and humid weather even if they look fine (as ours did) and especially if they show minor itching ! I have attached a picture of of before and after which has literally been two days !

[Coximus]

when one is struck always try to give a full new does of what ever ecto treatment your using, You'd be amazed where the buggers appear from

[Anke]

She needs antibiotic cover for any (highly likely) post-strike infection. How could he vet have missed that?

[Oopsiboughtasheep]

Thankyou for this post crobertson and I hope that your poor sheep is soon much better.
All this advice about checking for fly strike this week is so helpful, especially for us relative newbies.
I am so worried about mine getting strike after this post and the other one about fly strike, that I have been considering Cliking them again sooner than necessary, just to be more confident that they are well covered at this point in the season. Can I do that safely for them? They are 12 weeks into the 16 weeks cover. Also, I have 2 lambs (weaned a few weeks ago) coming on Saturday.......(oopsibought2moresheep!!) Can I do them as well? If they have already been crovected/clicked do I 'trust' that or can I do them safely again with my girls? I'm not worried about the cost of the Clik as I will only have 6 sheep by the end of the week. I just want them to be as protected as I can manage. I know I could use crovect but as it only treats where it touches them, I prefer to use Clik after they have been sheared. Thankyou in advance.

[pharnorth]

Always worth checking with a Vet but personally I have resprayed at 12 weeks this time and I had a problem with a bought in lamb that I thought was covered, but wasn't as they had used the weaker version, she got struck so has now been sprayed with Clik. My rational is that the withdrawal on Clik (for slaughter) is only 40 days so the toxicity internally is minimal by then hence a respray at 12 weeks won't cause an overdose issue, it is more a question of environmental impact.  Also 16 weeks is based on data but this will always have an uncertainty around the end point. E.g if they look at a 1000 sheep, perhaps only 0.1% get struck at 12 weeks, 0.3% at 16 weeks etc. And as test data is not necessarily the conditions you are experiencing, in an extreme year those vulnerable as you get closer to 16 weeks is greater. Then on course, is the application the same on each and every sheep?  So my risk assessment was a earlier respray was justified. It is maximum humidity and 30C out there today. Forecast to be the hottest September day ever so it ain't normal.....

[bazzais]

Clikzin - its cliks baby brother - the withdrawal is only 7 days.  I can recommend it over crovect any day. prevent not treat.

Touch wood = hardly any strike this year. But checkin regulary now.

We need to wean soon but the weather has been too bad and messing with them in the rain will only make the threat worse.

It looks like your sheep were sheared very early? We've only just done it a month ago so ewes are pretty safe.

Maybe look at shearing later?

Its all hit and miss though - yes sometimes strike can be hard to find in new fleece.

Hope she recovers - and btw they look wonderfull.

[shep53]

In the the first picture is she at the back facing right and in the second picture looks like blood stained wool inside her back left leg ??

[Rosemary]

I can recommend it over crovect any day. prevent not treat.

Crovect does prevent fly strike

[shep53]

In the second picture I can see yellow staining in the fleece , you sometimes get this especially in texel x's   , excessive lanolin or more ( put in " what causes yellow stain in sheeps wool " ) this may be why she got strike on her shoulders

[crobertson]

Thank you all for your replies

As mentioned my aim for the post was to raise awareness especially this year ! We ourselves are newbies, we took on 11 last year, some went in the freezer, a couple got sold and I've got my 6 girls that I kept.

I like to think we're very vigilant. They get checked 2-3 times daily, bums are spotless (as are they in general) vaccinated up to date, crovected regularly, the vets are chuffed with their condition but unfortunately one still got struck. They were sheared at the start of June which I may consider extending next year. Maybe because they are well kept, plenty of good grass the fleeces have grown quicker than normal ?

She is the one in the back with the yellow, her fleece was completely white but we clipped crovected and applied summer cream which is yellow to help with the itching. That was before us and the vet uncovered the true extent ! She is actually still very poorly, in an outbuilding with a buddy so we can keep a better eye of her. Her temp has gone up from 40 degrees at the vets to 40.3 degrees tonight despite the antibiotic and pain killer injection yesterday. She won't really eat so is now starting to get a bit weak and I noticed as she was feebly attempting some hay she started to sound a bit raspy (vets thought she might develop secondary pneumonia). If anyone has any ideas for getting something in to her food, glucose ? I think shes only lasted this long because they're in fantastic body condition, had as much grass as she wants all summer, not had lambs etc

Thank you all !

[TheSmilingSheep]

How miserable for you Crobertson.  If you're checking 2 - 3 times a day, and it's a small flock (which is similar to many of us) I sort of think that this is a reminder of how we cannot manage every risk all of the time.... Also Marches Farmer's recent post - about a fundamentally fragile sheep/lamb being more susceptible to a fatal outcome - is very telling and rational I think.  We can only do so much, and try to be vigilant, but even repeated preventative treatments can't guarantee no strike. The fact that you found her so early, and treated quickly, is a really good thing.  If she's not eating, and hasn't eaten much for a while, you might want to drench her with 'propylene glycol' - 60ml syringed into mouth.... will help to give her energy and keep the rumen working..... but do check out with your vet over the phone....
So hope it works out for you....

[Oopsiboughtasheep]

Have been thinking of your sheep CRobertson, hope she is improving? Following your helpful warning and that of MF in the other fly strike post, I have also heeded pharnorths advice and re clik'd my girls today. 

[crobertson]

Thank you for your reply, its has been such a shock to us how such a well looked after, big, strong texel type ewe can go from fit as a fiddle last week to virtually dead this week.

I was in the pen with her a 5am this morning, she was lying flat on the floor, wouldn't get up, the wound had completely re-opening and pretty much looking like the flesh was just degrading, infected and seperating off and her temp was still 40.3 despite the antibiotics etc. My gut feeling was she was going to die today, she never even moved while I cleaned it all up - decided to go for basic hibbiscrub, dried and smothered in sudocrem ! As a last resort as a boost I dissolved some sugar in water and syringed into her mouth.

My dad checked her at lunch time and I asked to repeat the hibbiscrub, sudocrem and temp was 39.4 and she was on her feet briefly and nibbling hay.

I repeated the hibbiscrub and sudocrem when I got in from work and temp now 39.2 ! The wound looks recognisably better, shes on her feet, ate some hay and even a handful of ewe nuts.

Fingers crossed I'm cautiously hopeful for her and I will be religiously treating her tomorrow. I will be buying some Clik this weekend and redoing the other 5 ewes and only using Crovect to treat.

[Penninehillbilly]

  for you and her.
Following your post I've had an extra good look round today, cut fleece off ewe who hadn't been shorn, i feed and check every evening.

[Coastie]

I hope she is on the mend, you have done a good job for her. Try some young fresh willow, ivy, hazel even apple leaves to help her appetite. Good luck.