Blowfly strike: The incidence of blowfly strike continues to increase rapidly. Many farmers are reporting a breakdown in protection where sheep are coming towards the end of the period of protection offered, or even earlier in lambs that are grazing lush swards and have dirty tail ends.

There are also reports in hoggets and ewes that were shorn late, and as such are not expected to contract blowfly strike now. It is important that sheep are monitored closely, as cases of maggoting are intensifying quickly and causing significant damage in a short period of time. The other issue of concern at present is head flies where sheep are grazing in areas with a lot of trees or dense cover. Therefore, it is worth assessing the range of protection covered and also the length of the withdrawal period where lambs approaching slaughter weight are being treated. Adhering to the recommended guidelines in terms of the method of application and the dose rate is critical to the effectiveness of treatment.

Hill lamb options: With the store lamb trade holding relatively well, it is worth weighing up the options available for marketing lambs. A useful exercise is to weigh lambs and group them across weight ranges. This will provide a clearer picture of what lambs are present and the percentage within each class.

For example, where there is a high proportion of light lambs on hand that may lead to grass supply issues down the line, then it may be a better option to move these and retain heavier lambs that may realise a better value now in the store ring, but longer-term will be a better prospect to finish on-farm. The Teagasc store lamb calculator, available on www.teagasc.ie, is a useful tool for establishing finishing costs.

Sheep Ireland change of venue: The upcoming Sheep Ireland elite sale of performance-recorded rams taking place on Saturday 22 August has been forced to change venue due to coronavirus restrictions in Offaly. The new venue is Cillín Hill Mart, Kilkenny, and all other arrangements for the sale remain the same. The provisional catalogue for the sale is now available online at www.sheep.ie.

Dog microchipping: Last week’s mention of dog microchipping has raised some requests looking for the legislation to be revisited in the management notes. The regulations were introduced in 2015 by the Department of Agriculture and require any pup born since 1 June 2015 to be microchipped and registered on an approved database by the time they reach 12 weeks of age, or on leaving the holding if this occurs before 12 weeks of age. All dogs over 12 weeks of age must also be microchipped and registered on a database. As part of the registration process, owners of dogs must keep their contact details up-to-date and register any change of contact details or change of ownership on the database.

The regulations set out that any owner of a dog in breach of the regulations can be subject to fines of up to €5,000. Farmers have continually raised concern with a lack of action in enforcement of the regulations. Local authorities, the Department of Agriculture and An Garda Síochána have responsibility for enforcing the regulations.