I got my wethers, 10 of them, about a week ago. they are really small. they average about 20 lbs. 2 of them were runts, I was paying $1 a lb. So I took them. They wieghed about 17 lbs. I got the girl (19) that sold them to me, help me with some farm work, 2 or 3 days after I got the sheep. As soon as she saw them, she went to work on them. 3 of them, had maggots, where she was docking their tails, and where they had been castrated. She took the water hose, on high stream, and washed the maggots out. What she couldnât get out with the water, she picked out. Then we put Peroxide on them and colloidal silver. I remembered that when dad used to castrate pigs, he would use turpentine on them. So that evening, I went and got some turpentine. I could only catch one of them. The next day, Katy, (the girl helping me) said the we should get some scarlet oil. So I did. And we put it on them. Also, I got some liquid Vitamins. One liitle sheep died. This morning I went out and there was maggots real bead on one of them. I sprayed the Scarlet oil right on the maggots. And they just started rolling out. Then I washed them with the water hose. I think I got them all, I didnât pick them out. And applied the Scarlet oil again. Also gave vitamins. To one. The Scarlet oil smells like turpentine to me. What else can I do?
You need to put a fly repellant on them (is scarlet oil a fly repellant?) They may need some extra vitamin C. Dried cherries or cranberries would be good, you can just give them as treats throughout the day. I don't dock tails. My Black Welsh Mountain sheep are traditionally not docked and I haven't had any problems, but they have dense short coats. This year we had a wool lamb, which has not been docked. I checked her the other day and there are no problems under the tail (though I plan on shearing some on the crutch the next time I catch her, just to be safe). On the underside of a sheep's tail, no wool grows until about 2/3 down. If you are raising these sheep to butcher, and especially if they are not a wool (long wool) type, you probably don't need to have them docked. When you do dock, keep the tail long, like only cut off half of the tail. If you do run into another problem, you would still have room to cut again.
Maura, she docked them some time ago. Some of the tails had fell off. They are part Katahdins. They have short hair. I don't know if scarlet oil is a fly repelant or not. but those maggots sure started rolling around when I put it on them. I was trying to avoid anything too poisen. I noticed, it has a smell of turpentine. Anyone here use turpentine.
We don't have to dock tails anymore (Shetlands don't need it, they have tiny short pointed tails) but when we did, we had to check the lambs very often to avoid maggots. Be sure they aren't in a barn where the manure is wet and draws flies. Keep the wound cleaned out and use Wound-Kote (feed store, Rural King) spray to help it heal. Keep the area dry, and use a citronella-odor fly spray for horses (spray on the lambs around the tail area where it won't hurt them) to keep the flies away. If they die of maggots it's a lot more painful than a little chemical residue on their skin, and they can die a horrible death from maggots. We don't like to use poisons either but sometimes the lambs need aggressive intervention to save them. Try to keep them in a dry, well-ventilated and straw-bedded area to cut down on flies, or if they are outside keep them away from mudholes and low places. For summer fly control without using sprays and poisions, cut bunches of tansy and hang up in the barns - flies leave the premises. You have to replace with fresh tansy after a week or so, but tansy will grow like a weed and will multiply just like mint once it gets started. Hope your lambs improve, just keep a really close eye on them and don't be afraid to look really close at any areas of concern, maggots are good at hiding and causing damage before being detected, or sometimes the wound gets infected below the skin. Welcome to sheepraising! But the good times are worth it.
I use a spray called Boroform which is antiseptic and while not notably poisonous does have Choroform in it, which has the same effect as your Scarlet oil, (never heard of it) A good fly repelant and treat it like an open dirty wound (which it is )with daily or twice daily cleaning and I would use a once a day PenG shot as well. Maggots feed on bacteria they practically cultivate in the open wound so you have to remove the infection too.
