Wednesday, January 17, 2024

Nobody likes mulesing

 





Flystrike starts in the greasy folds of skin that characterise Merino sheep.  Moist and lined with lanolin, it’s the perfect spot for blowflies to lay their eggs. The maggots hatch in the darkness and feed on the living tissue of sheep until they emerge, sheltering in wet lumps of wool, marked by large wounds with weeping lesions, swollen skin and the smell of rotting flesh.

 

One blowfly can produce up to 300 eggs per cycle, laying a new batch every few days. Without rapid, intensive antibiotic treatment, the sheep will die.

http://tinyurl.com/3f2rumep


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