06/30/2026
https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1BihcU61hb/
- Fly Strike: The Flies Are Only Part of the Problem -
Fly strike is one of those livestock problems that can go from “I didn’t see anything yesterday” to “this animal is in real trouble” very quickly.
It's getting hot and humid outside, and we just did some shearing, so this was on my mind.
Fly strike happens when flies lay eggs on an animal.
-Eggs hatch into maggots
-Maggots begin feeding in damaged, wet, irritated, infected, or contaminated tissue
Flies are usually not picking a perfectly clean, dry, healthy spot for no reason. They are more opportunists than anything.
A lot of people associate fly strike with scours, but the "opportunity" may be multiple things:
-Manure stuck around the back end (scours or dags).
-Urine scald.
-A wound hidden under wool or hair.
-Shearing cuts
-Foot rot drainage. It may be
-Dead tissue
-Afterbirth
-Dirty bedding
-Or anything else that brings moisture, odor, and bacteria into the picture.
Basically, fly strike is often a sign that something created a weak spot first.
The dangerous part is how fast it can move. A sheep or goat may look mostly normal one day and be painful, weak, toxic, or severely damaged the next. Warm weather and humidity (like many of us are experiencing right now) can make matters worse.
The first thing most people notice may be a bad smell, wet-looking wool or hair, an animal separating from the group, biting or kicking at an area, acting painful, not wanting to eat, or simply looking “off.”
*By the time maggots are obvious, the problem may already be more advanced than it looked from the outside.
People often mistake eliminating flies and maggots as "fixing the problem"...
The flies are the emergency.
The wound is the aftermath.
Once the larvae are killed or removed, there can still be considerable tissue damage underneath. In my experience, the wound care after fly strike is much worse than the initial sight (which is pretty unsettling).
The skin may be raw, infected, undermined (think tunneling), or dead in places. What looked like a small wet spot from the outside may open into a much larger wound once the area is clipped and cleaned.
-With fly strike, we are often dealing with a contaminated wound AND secondary bacterial infection.
-That infection may have been part of the original problem that attracted the flies, OR it may develop after the larvae start damaging the tissue.
Either way, you get the point... the animal is not automatically okay just because the maggots are gone.
That's why I would encourage you to treat fly strike like a wound problem, not just a fly problem.
The area needs to be exposed (remove matted or wet wool or hair), cleaned, evaluated, protected from more flies, and watched closely while it heals.
I personally like to use Catron spray and wound spray for minor areas. Post shearing, if I see a wound, I will always spray with antiseptic and then over the wound with Catron.
Severe cases may need veterinary help, pain control, antibiotics, wound care, or removal of dead tissue.
Prevention is mostly about taking away the invitation.
Keep animals clean. Watch for diarrhea. Do not ignore manure tags. Crutch or shear woolly animals when needed. Treat wounds early. Watch feet. Manage bedding and manure. Remove dead tissue, afterbirth, and anything else that attracts flies.
Check animals more often during warm, humid weather, especially the ones with long wool, dirty back ends, wounds, or anything that keeps skin damp!
