Despite the fact that my Bowmont sheep have been treated with Clik I just can’t rest easy on  a  day like today. It’s hot, humid and thundery – perfect blow fly weather. I’ve been walking among them for the last few minutes observing and making sure all is well. Clik is not a fly repellent – instead it disrupts the growth of fly larvae so in theory, a fly egg which hatches should not develop into the flesh eating maggot which causes all the problem. Most repellents don’t last more than a couple of days and certainly wouldn’t cope with the torrential rainsotrms we get here in the summer sometimes.  Unfortunately this makes them impractical once you get above half a dozen sheep.

As a consequence the blow flies still worry the sheep as do biting flies – the same ones which torment us on a day like today! I felt so sorry for my animals  They were tense, heads down standing rigidly whenever they heard a buzz. All looks well in respect of signs of “strike” but the sheep are still paranoid!

The goats by contrast are unfussed. Blow fly strike in goats is very rare. For some reason even the Angoras with their long coats are spared. The only time I have ever had it is on one occasion in the foot of an Angora which was very sore.  All the goats are annoyed by biting flies and at times can be driven to distraction by the huge horseflies we have here. The bite can be very painful. We try to get round this for them by offering fields with distinctly different areas such as tree shade, dry open slopes, valley bottom etc so that a t different times of day the animals can retreat to less fly infested spots.

Summer weather is wonderful but hot humid days are good for neither man nor beast.