Keeping your sheep strike free this season may be more of a challenge.
National Animal Disease Information Service (NADIS) is made up of a team of vets across the UK working closely with vets in practice and RAMAs in industry. NADIS have collaborated with Elanco to launch another blowfly risk alert to update farmers and prescribers about the current blowfly challenge throughout the season. They report that the risk of strike remains severe across the UK.
Although we are moving into a cooler season, the very high blowfly populations and damp conditions mean strike risk remains severe across the UK and will probably remain high for the next few weeks. The treatment applied to ewes after shearing is likely to be heading towards the end of its period of active protection, so extra vigilance is required to avoid serious cases of strike.
Farmers and prescribers are encouraged to report a case of strike on the blowfly tracker to keep everyone updated about the current risk in their local area and across the country.
report them through the NADIS website https://alerts.nadis.org.uk