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Welcome to FlyBoss-everything you need to know to reduce flystrike risk

Flystrike is a major risk and disease for the sheep industry. Each year, treatment costs and lost production associated with flystrike costs the industry $280 million. Sheep are affected by both breech strike and body strike – FlyBoss provides you with the latest information to reduce the risk through management and breeding approaches and provides information on treatment of flystrike outbreaks. FlyBoss information is supported by training workshops in all regions.. Information on Flystrike Management Workshops is available by clicking on the Industry Training heading above.

The most common forms of flystrike are breech strike and body strike

Of the two, breech strike has the largest impact on the industry. Mulesing has been used for many years to reduce the risk of strike in the breech. Market pressures are challenging the use of mulesing as a practice to reduce breech strike risk. There are clear messages from the wool supply chain that processors and consumers are seeking supplies of wool from non-mulesed sheep. Regardless of whether or not you mules your sheep, reducing the risk and incidence of flystrike in the flock is critical to reducing its impact on productivity, profit and animal welfare. It is timely for all sheep producers to review their flystrike management techniques and strategies. Every sheep producer also needs to make a decision about mulesing – considering the market for their wool, implications for the productivity of their enterprise, management constraints and animal welfare.

The principles that reduce flystrike risk and strike

Reducing the risk of flystrike requires an integrated approach that combines your annual management program – shearing, crutching, chemical applications with the breeding and selection of less susceptible sheep. The chosen combination of strategies will vary between producers, depending on their sheep type, location and enterprise type. The industry is now undergoing rapid change with many producers replacing mulesing with alternative management, breeding and selection – having a plan for flystrike management is imperative. FlyBoss will help develop a plan that is relevant to your sheep enterprise, your goals and your location. The tabs at the tope of this page take you through the five steps for developing a flystrike control plan.

We acknowledge our industry partners in development of this website