Scoring sheep for fleece rot

Summary

Flystrike is a major problem to the Australian wool industry, costing it from $160 to $200 million a year as a result of reduced production and increased chemical and labour costs. Flystrike occurs mainly as breech strike and body strike.

While breech strike can be controlled through husbandry practices such as mulesing and crutching, managing body strike is not as easy. Chemicals are currently important in control programs, but the development of resistance has made them less effective in some areas, and pesticide residues in wool are of increasing concern to the industry. As a result, flock owners are being encouraged to minimise their use of chemicals to control flystrike.

The contents of this Primefact include the following:

• What is fleece rot?
• Distinguishing between fleece rot and dermo
• Scoring for fleece rot
• How to score
• How the score works
• Which animals should I score?
• Applying results to commercial breeding programs.