This time of the summer we keep an eye out for "fly blown" sheep here at Struan Farm, especially if it's been damp and hot. What happens is the flies lay eggs in the damp wool, they hatch into maggots that can then eat flesh. Gruesome, and terrible for the sheep if it's not caught early and addressed. The sheep get "dusted" to help avoid this, but even then it does happen. Typically I watch out for large black spots on the wool of white sheep.
Hubby John is very good at recognising the early signs of fly blown sheep. While he's never been a farmer as an adult, he did grow up here at Struan Farm and worked with sheep into his adolescence. And thankfully for me he noticed the signs in pet lamb Tootsie! She had "dags" on her rear end that needed crutching/cutting, but John thought it was more than that. He saw her wagging her tail a certain way, and a fly or two around her.
So we went out into the paddock and tried to wrangle Tootsie. This took quite a bit of doing, since she's the wariest of the pet lambs. Apples, bottles, nope, nah, you're up to something Karen and John....she was right.
But John finally grabbed her leg, and then used the hand shears to trim her rear. And yes, there was a maggot, but we caught it early. She's been dusted and trimmed and all is okay. Phew!
She'll be feeling much better. And, as John is keen to remind me, I'm very lucky to be married to such a handy man!
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