THE SHEEP FLY.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 163, 3 April 1908, Page 2

THE SHEEP FLY.

MARLBOROUGH SHEF.I'OWNER'S - ■ EXPERIENCES. (To tho Editor 'of Tub Dominion.) Sir, —I received a pamphlet written by ' Mr. J. Gilruth,' Chief Veterinary Surgeon, on tho sheep maggot, and T also saw your notice of tho pamphlet" in The Dominion. ' Tho sheep maggot 'is such a scourge -to sheepownors that I'think it would be well to have'different practical experiences on the subject,-and in writing this I am only stating' that which I know to be correct .in. parts of Marlborough.- The maggot has been bad in this province for. six or soven years. Somcl time 'since'l Vished to identify' tho'fly which was causing' the trouble. There- ,'-, fore, when crutching:, lambs' I took. 1 tho maggot from fivo different sheep. Each of • them had only just been struck. The patoh' of maggot was not larger than'a'shilling in any 'case. : I did this because there wero various ' opinions ;' on the kind' of Jly : that caused tho mischief,--some being that a now fly first 1 blew-tho sheep and that the-blue- ' bottlo' camo'after- the- sheep'was affected. 1 kept the maggdts iiv a tin box'with earth v on the bottom and fed them: , In tho spring, when tho fly hatched' out of tho chrysalis, there'were only two.kinds of. fly—viz M -.the>\. common bluebottle and : tho brown fly,- or V,' brown bottle. There was not ono single.l fly ';' of another kind. Tho. best- preventive I - know is to crutch before aiiy wool becomes ? stained or dirty ; also to. dip tho ewes and . lambs'. together in January, and to , put plenty of raw sulphur into the dip at tho that when the sheep'goes-out of tho. dip it rises through'- a.'bath ' charged, with ' sulphur. The. simplest,.way-.t0.., mix tho;' sulphur, is .t-o have a 'o6uple;,of tubs near ; your dip, nijx up with water' Into, a '.thick., paste, then throw a bucketful'.of this, mix-; ture .into the dip—say, ono *bucketful- r to, ; over.y fifty, shoep. I use about one cask of'• sulphur to' 1000' ewes, l with -their- lambs. -1have used Highland dip for about tori years," and, though it is * a 'poisonous dip,. I 'hrt'O. never 'l«t'a lamb,, dipping the lambs with-'.-their mptliers.; If a lamb or sheep is: badlv • affected,.i-fheaf tho 'wool about two," inches,/ beyond tho .affected part, and then rub dry dust on tho patch. I know of no quicker, way of getting the . maggot to leave tho .sheep. About four years ago I' had quite - 40 per cent, of lambs struck by the: fly, and as soon as I dipped, with tho. sulphur added,; ' 'the nuisance ended, . though sheep, that had not; been-dipped . continued to bo =• I amV etc.; ' " j ! ,: > ' ■' : ; ; Q; G/TESCHEMAKER-SHCTE.' * Avor.dalo Stptioii,. ' . .' . ' Renwicktown, Marlborough.