Sheep farmers and owners urged to plan for flystrike

Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI)

With summer here, animal welfare inspectors will be on the look-out for flystrike, says Gray Harrison, MPI’s regional manager of animal welfare and NAIT compliance.

“Flystrike is painful to the animal, but it is also preventable and manageable if you act early and prepare for the traditional warm summer months from December to March. Most farmers have a plan to ensure the welfare of their animals throughout the warmer seasons. They don’t want to see their animals suffering and they are aware flystrike can have a devastating effect. Prevention through acting early is the best approach,” Mr Harrison says.

The Code of Welfare – Sheep and Beef Cattle outlines two enforceable minimum standards for managing flystrike:
• All reasonable steps must be taken to prevent or identify and manage the risk of flystrike in sheep.
• Affected sheep must receive appropriate treatment at the earliest opportunity.
Along with suffering stock and financial losses, there is potential reputational damage if MPI is alerted and finds evidence of these standards not being met.

“Doing the preventative work such as crutching or shearing, dipping, jet spraying or spot spraying with an appropriate prevention product is your best defence,” Mr Harrison says. “Once you’ve done the preventative work, don’t drop the ball as your sheep should be monitored closely to ensure the treatment is working.”

“This is critical because of how flystrike develops. When a fly lays eggs on an animal, they can hatch after about 12 hours and within three or four days, sheep can be severely affected by maggots. If sheep and lambs are affected by flystrike, they’ll rapidly lose weight because vital fluid, protein and electrolytes are being lost because of the wounds.”

“This will lead to a lack of appetite and dehydration that if left untreated will result in death or the animal needing to be euthanised. Do the rounds and look for the symptoms, such as twitching tails or small greyish brown patches in the wool of lambs and sheep, especially those that are separated from mobs, and languishing in shrubs, shade, or bush. When flystrike is identified, act quickly by applying remedial or preventative measures to all the animals in the affected mobs, along with all animals in the mobs that could be susceptible,” Mr Harrison says.

For any affected sheep, crutch, or shear these animals before applying treatment, he adds.
“There’s no excuse for a major flystrike outbreak if you don’t plan.  For some farmers, their lack of action has ended in prosecution before the court. We will act when we find evidence of deliberate animal neglect.”

You can find more information on the Code of Welfare for sheep and beef cattle and information on sheep tail-docking at www.mpi.govt.nz

Animal welfare is everyone’s responsibility and MPI strongly encourages any member of the public who is aware of animal ill-treatment or cruelty to report it to our animal welfare team on freephone 0800 00 83 33 or by emailing [email protected].