# Fly control for sheep?



## RandB (Aug 13, 2002)

What do you all do to help your sheep with flies? Mostly ours are being bothered lately with face flies.

I am considering one of those dusting bag things, we are trying to figure out some way to place it so that the sheep can't avoid contact with it.

Has anybody used one, does it work? With our horses we can spray them, but no way would the sheep tolerate that. We have been having hot, wet weather and suddenly the flies are BAD.


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## stellie (Nov 15, 2004)

Generally fly tape (those long gooey strips of glued fly paper in a tube) work well for small numbers of flies -- there's a bag deal called Fly Relief that uses pheremones to trap them; crack open a vial in the bag and add water to the line. Watch the bag collect house flies, horse flies, even hornets!

http://www.bigdweb.com/FLY_RELIEF_BAG_P1375C836.cfm


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## Ronney (Nov 26, 2004)

I don't muck around when it comes to flies and sheep and if you've ever had fly strike you will know why. 

Fly papers etc have limited application in so far as the fly isn't all that discerning - if it comes across your smelly, damp sheep first, that's as good a place to land and lay eggs as flying another 100 yards to find a fly paper or trap.

I use preventative measures. There are now some very good pour-ons' on the market that deal with both fly and lice and will last up to 6 weeks. Once applied the flies steer clear of the sheep and their life is very much improved - as is yours as you don't have to deal with a maggoty mess.

Cheers,
Ronnie


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## livestockmom (Apr 2, 2005)

Ronny, which pour on has worked best for you?

Seems all the Permectrin products have stopped working for us...they have outsmarted us.

We use Cylence at shearing time as a preventative for lice, would love a fly repellent as easy to use as that.

We also run big fans if they want to come in off the pasture and lay under cover, they flies cant fly in all that wind.

We also rake the barnyard every morning after they are let out to the pastures and tractor the poop away, that helps keep the fly population down as well.


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## Ronney (Nov 26, 2004)

Hi Livestockmom,
Do you have a name - that is such a mouthful  

At this time of night I'm not about to wander down to the shed to look up the ingredients but the commercial names are Zapp and Flypel - both very good. The flys didn't bother them and when applied to the mob I didn't have one case of flystrike. The other thing I discovered about them was that in any that weren't done, if they did get flystrike, an application would deal with it. That meant not having to spend ages cutting off the wool and cleaning up the mess. Not only that, it was quick. Last summer I was a bit slow off the mark and when I brought them in to do, one 2th hogget had already been struck. I applied the stuff, let her out of the race and carried on. 15 minutes later I was finished and ready to take them back to their paddock. I walked past this girl just as she shook herself - she rained dead maggots and I kid you not. The next day when I checked her she was as clean as a whistle.

I'll try to remember to have a look in the morning. The commercial names here are probably different to over there but having the ingredients may help identify - or you could try doing a Google search?

Cheers,
Ronnie


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## livestockmom (Apr 2, 2005)

Thanks Ronnie for the information, we dont mess around with fly's here either, they can do alot of damage with fly strike. I have never heard of those two products but im going to go out and have a look at my pour-on (Cylence) and see if it can be used for fly control. On our covered sheep, I spray a mist on their covers but it needs to be done daily, a real chore!

Flys....yuck!


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