[moprabbit]

Just wondered what lice treatment people have used and are there any pros and cons for each treatment? Which would people recommend? I've looked at Spot On and Crovect. Do either of these cause irritation to the sheep when they've been applied? Thank you.

[shep53]

NO both are fine , depends on the quantity you can buy and wether you can use it all before it is out of date   ,both can be used to kill maggots and crovect protects against blowfly BUT spot -on does not  , both kill ticks  . Spot-on is easier to apply  just a small amount on the skin  on the shoulder  then it is absorbed into the skin and moves slowly around the body , so takes a while to kill .  Crovect is a large amount in a pin stripe  from head to tail  and then travels around the body via the lanolin , it works best if you can part the fleece and get low down the wool near the skin ,  often hear that it doesn't work well at this time of year on very heavy fleeces but with only a few to do you can take time to part each fleece and get it down to the skin

[moprabbit]

Thanks for the information Shep, I've wondered how they work. The reason I ask if they cause irritation to the sheep is that Crovect seems to cause problems to us if we get it on our skin so just thought it would irritate sheep, but surely it can't? Thanks

[Anke]

Speak to your vet - they may be able to give you the doses you need already drawn up in a syringe - I mean injectable treatments. I have always found these work better in animals with quite a fleece at this time of year. Just don't inject when wet.


If not - can you ask a neighbouring farmer to let you have some pour-on- you likely need less that 10ml per animal...

[shep53]

Thanks for the information Shep, I've wondered how they work. The reason I ask if they cause irritation to the sheep is that Crovect seems to cause problems to us if we get it on our skin so just thought it would irritate sheep, but surely it can't? Thanks

  You really don,t want it on your skin as it can burn plus it is nerve toxin , also eats leggings and plastic  , safe for sheep as it stays in the grease layer  plus they have thicker skins than us

[shep53]

Speak to your vet - they may be able to give you the doses you need already drawn up in a syringe - I mean injectable treatments. I have always found these work better in animals with quite a fleece at this time of year. Just don't inject when wet.
Injectables   ( cydectin & dectomax )  treat scab /worms /nasal bots but not lice

[landroverroy]

Thanks for the information Shep, I've wondered how they work. The reason I ask if they cause irritation to the sheep is that Crovect seems to cause problems to us if we get it on our skin so just thought it would irritate sheep, but surely it can't? Thanks

I quite agree with you there moprabbit, the irritation of Crovect is horrible and almost impossible to wash off.
However, I discovered that the ingredient, Permethrin is equally effective if diluted 5x. Alright it might not persist for weeks as you would want for maggot control, (although I don't know this), but you want lice killed as soon as possible and the diluted stuff certainly works for a couple of weeks which is long enough to kill lice and their subsequently hatching eggs.
You can dilute with water and shake well, or any oil eg pig oil (buy in bulk) or diesel. Because it's diluted you can spread the recommended dose over 5x the area and get a better coverage. I find this very effective without running the risk of causing irritation on areas that have been scratched.

[Clay]

Hi can I suggest that you make sure that your sheep do in actual fact have lice as it is easy to confuse the issue with sheep scab. Your vet can check using a microscope.

I notice that you live in SW Scotland if you are near Murray Farmcare they are very good and will sell small quantities of Crovet and probably much cheaper than the vet.

[Badger Nadgers]

I quite agree with you there moprabbit, the irritation of Crovect is horrible and almost impossible to wash off.
However, I discovered that the ingredient, Permethrin is equally effective if diluted 5x.

I might be getting the wrong end of the stick here, but the active ingredient of Crovect (and generic versions like Molecto and Vectocert) is Cypermerthin.  Permethrin is the actiive ingredient in Flypor which is cattle only.