6 more ways to prevent flystrike

Your most at-risk animals are:

• lambs, at or before weaning;

• animals with shearing wounds;

• unshorn animals;

• animals with dags;

• animals with tails that are too short.

Adult flies lay up to 200 eggs at a time on moist areas of a sheep's body, close to the skin, and maggots multiply quickly, so always act fast. A sheep can lose weight rapidly, even if the affected area is small (less than 15cm in diameter).

Get the tail right

Tails should be long enough to cover the vulva in ewe lambs, around 10cm or so (dock males to the same length). This allows animals to wag their tail, which helps disperse faeces and urine away from the body and knock flies away. Research shows animals with undocked tails or tails that are too short (exposing the vulva and anus) are far more prone to flystrike.

Move sheep to higher ground during danger periods; blowflies don't like the cooler temperatures and higher wind speeds.

Avoid grazing sheep near fly hotspots such as sheltered scrub-lined gullies, patches of thistles, bush margins, and the lee of shelterbelts.

Don’t intensively graze pasture, as this concentrates faecal and urine odours, which are very attractive to flies.

Plant high tannin crops, such as birdsfoot trefoil, lotus, sainfoin, and sulla, which help to prevent parasite burdens and don't tend to cause diarrhoea.

Source: Managing flystrike and lice, www.beeflambnz.com

3 important things to know about controlling boxthorn

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Untreated stumps regrow after slashing.

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It’s not controlled by fire.

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It will reinfest cleared areas if the soil is left bare, so it’s essential to revegetate with pasture and/or other fast-growing trees.