Fly strike

MikeT · Jul 5, 2015

I was worried that our black calf might have fly strike. I have had problems in the past with fly strike on our Highland calves. Its now a major job catching these fast running calves but I was fortunate it went into the catching area without too much trouble. It is now too strong for me to hold while I checked out the problem but could not find any maggots, a dose of "Spoton" should do the trick if I missed them. I do not know why black calves are more prone to fly problems than the red or cream calves.

Mike

B+. · Jul 5, 2015

MikeT said:
I do not know why black calves are more prone to fly problems than the red or cream calves.

Perhaps flies prefer dark areas the same way bees tend to sting dark areas more often?

hallshoney · Jul 5, 2015

Wow never thought about fly strike on calves had a couples of lambs last week . A chap i rent some ground off rang me this week to say he's bought two highland in calf heifers and a cow with calf at foot will be interesting to see if he gets any trouble

kathrynat · Jul 5, 2015

I've never seen on calves either. We have black and white and red and white montbeliardes. They have shorter hair than the highlands so maybe that is why. We had a nasty fly strike on a lamb last week. It was touch and go for the poor thing for a couple of days. He seems to be recovering well now

Erichalfbee · Jul 5, 2015

kathrynat said:
We have black and white and red and white montbeliardes.

Had to look those up; so many more breeds than when I was at Vet School

kathrynat · Jul 5, 2015

Erichalfbee said:
Had to look those up; so many more breeds than when I was at Vet School

They are fantastic cattle originating in France. They are very hardy and suited to dairy and beef. We were using them for milking, but when we had to finish last year we decided to hang on to some of the better ones and let them rear their calves

MikeT · Jul 6, 2015

kathrynat said:
I've never seen on calves either. We have black and white and red and white montbeliardes. They have shorter hair than the highlands so maybe that is why. We had a nasty fly strike on a lamb last week. It was touch and go for the poor thing for a couple of days. He seems to be recovering well now

WE have had several calves with fly strike over the years. It is due to the longer hair and the mothers not cleaning them up after birth. The usual place for an attack in on the head or on the flanks. I now treat all calves with 10ml of Spoton when I tag them as a precaution. I found the problem was worse when we calved in September, we now calve in April or May when the fly level is lower.

I used to inspect the calves daily looking for the tell tale clumps of white eggs and flies on the coats, I then raked out the eggs with a curry comb and then treated with Spoton, but now treat as a precaution.

I had a ewe last year with strike which was difficult to stop, even though she was treated with Crovect,

kathrynat · Jul 7, 2015

MikeT said:
WE have had several calves with fly strike over the years. It is due to the longer hair and the mothers not cleaning them up after birth. The usual place for an attack in on the head or on the flanks. I now treat all calves with 10ml of Spoton when I tag them as a precaution. I found the problem was worse when we calved in September, we now calve in April or May when the fly level is lower.

I used to inspect the calves daily looking for the tell tale clumps of white eggs and flies on the coats, I then raked out the eggs with a curry comb and then treated with Spoton, but now treat as a precaution.

I had a ewe last year with strike which was difficult to stop, even though she was treated with Crovect,

We have used Crovect for quite a few years and found it really good for actually killing the maggots if it was applied directly on them. ( jeyes fluid is no good for that job anymore since the formulation was changed)
But we found sheep were still getting strike even after the preventive spray along the back and around the tail. I had a moan about it last year to one of the salesmen in out local farmers co op and he told me Crovect only works as a preventive where the product touches the wool. Unlike something like Spot on that spreads all over. I read the back of the bottle and it does say it on there. We now use Click as a preventive and find it really good.

Fly strike

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