Flystrike in olden times

[Red Fred]

We have seen a lot of flystrike this year, and I came across a post on social media asking how they used to treat flystrike in pre-crovect days. Several posters suggested that 19th century shepherds carried copper coins which they rubbed on affected sheep and this somehow discouraged flies. Having pondered this, it seems more likely that they might have used copper for ringworm treatment on livestock. I was wondering if anyone had heard of the copper coin theory, as it might explain the large number of smooth Georgian coppers we find while pottering about with the metal detector on the pastures.

 

[spin cycle]

i've often wondered how they coped before 'dips'....i reckon the fleece was so valuable they were foreve tending them....trimming/washing perhaps r

 

[goodevans]

I've often wandered how sheep ever survived without shepherds

 

[Red Fred]

I've often wandered how sheep ever survived without shepherds

I don't know how they survive WITH shepherds....

 

[Bury the Trash]

I've often wandered how sheep ever survived without shepherds

Before they were domesticated they didn't have wool they had hair.

 

[spin cycle]

Before they were domesticated they didn't have wool they had hair.

i got given a soay x wiltshire horn ewe lamb.....terrific ewe but needs shearing every year

 

[Bury the Trash]

i got given a soay x wiltshire horn ewe lamb.....terrific ewe but needs shearing every year

those are relatively young breeds, got to go back way ,way farther, maybe 3000 yrs or so BC when people began picking out fluffiest of the hairiest ones than normal and then as time went on ... further selecting for proper wool ...and then white wool was the next part of their selection processs.........

 

[Frank-the-Wool]

We used to use some wonderful stuff that we sprayed on the sheep in late May which had to last until late July or sometimes August before we got them shorn.
We had Dieldrin and then stuff in a brown bottle that came from Coopers.

Always kept a bottle that you could keep diluting if you found any struck!!

 

[Jerry]

Year on year I have to say this is the best yr Ive had for strike....so far two ewes and 1 lamb in a foot. And that is on a flock of 300 ewes plus followers.

Big difference to last few years is Im in a drought now, ewes are clean around the back end, lambs weaned a week ago and still clean with only one Cocci drench and one white drench.

Hopefully not tempting fate as clipping ewes Saturday.

 

[Bury the Trash]

sheep as we know them came from theses guys ....

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mouflon

and domestic Goats as it happens came from these

Ibex - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

do goats get maggots dont know much about them tbh.




as we know environment makes a big difference.

 

[Bones]

Years gone by, they used to cut a track in the wool down the back bone of the sheep, then pour a thick black gunge in to it that sat there for a long time,, I haven't a clue what it was made up with

 

[hendrebc]

I read a book about sheep keeping from the 1930s not long ago and it mentioned maggots in that so I had a quick flick through.
they had some stuff they used to dip sheep in then but had to be done every fortnight with something that can't have been very effective and they used to sprinkle sulphur on them.
Other than that it was going round them twice a day and identifying struck sheep and washing maggots off with water and scraping them out. It said in the book it was a good way of keeping boys home of an evening out of trouble so it must have been very labour intensive.

 

[Anymulewilldo]

I read a book about sheep keeping from the 1930s not long ago and it mentioned maggots in that so I had a quick flick through.
they had some stuff they used to dip sheep in then but had to be done every fortnight with something that can't have been very effective and they used to sprinkle sulphur on them.
Other than that it was going round them twice a day and identifying struck sheep and washing maggots off with water and scraping them out. It said in the book it was a good way of keeping boys home of an evening out of trouble so it must have been very labour intensive.

When you think back, the amount of sheep we farm now per labour unit is 10x what it used too be. Lot easier when you had a big team of shepherds looking after the flock with lots of time to do their jobs.

 

[Bogweevil]

The Standard Cyclopedia of Modern Agriculture, 1906:

Prevention:

Sulphur dips - effective for two weeks

Treatment:

50:50 turps and rape oil or paraffin
Sulphur ointment
Spirits of tar

 

[Anymulewilldo]

The Standard Cyclopedia of Modern Agriculture, 1906:

Prevention:

Sulphur dips - effective for two weeks

Treatment:

50:50 turps and rape oil or paraffin
Sulphur ointment
Spirits of tar

Grandad says his dad told him that dips were pretty benign until after the war and they started using up the war chemicals in dip. They used to dam up the brooks and pour the creosote based dips into the pool and dip in that!

 

[Bill dog]

Grandad says his dad told him that dips were pretty benign until after the war and they started using up the war chemicals in dip. They used to dam up the brooks and pour the creosote based dips into the pool and dip in that!

Blimey, ah the good ol days when you just got feckin on with it !

 

[Anymulewilldo]

Blimey, ah the good ol days when you just got feckin on with it !

There used too be a set of brick/stone pillars in the brook below our farm. You can still see the footings. Grandad remembers when he was a little kid on the farm next door they used too drop baulks of timber inside the pillars for the dam. But he wasn’t very old when they stopped using it and started building proper dips

 

[Bury the Trash]

My plan is all shedders wool makes too much extra work now for what is worth to sell on average.

still got to keep an eye for blowfly on the odd one and its usually a rare one that is dirty as well. can get away with not blanket treating with pouron ime.

 

[Bill dog]

My grandpa’s neighbour had a dipper, a double sided thing. When I was big enough to help(?), I got a waterproof put on backwards , into the dry side , and had to cowp the ewes over so they got fully submerged when dad reversed the ewes
Into the liquid . Needless to say within 5 minutes I’d be soaked to the skin . And no one batted an eyelid !
Those were the days !

 

[Bury the Trash]

If synthetics need out of the equation then Cotton and linen and probably other things i cant think are more easily produced for clothing .
carpets mind you are a good use of (coarser wools in this part of the Wolrd and leave the finer wools (for up market clothing etc) for southern hemisphere to do

if you think about The more shedders there are ,the less wool =higher prices .

should all compliment each other ...... in a perfect world


as fgar a recnt history well it was jeyes fluid for the odd strike and sheep dip mixed in a watering can and a spoon was used tied on the end of the spout instead of the rose not me i never done that, because Vetrazine had just come along when i started ,and well that was like .... wow ..happy days. stopped dipping for blowfly at that point, just dippedagaisnts scab thats all.