Blowfly strike causes severe suffering in sheep and is a major welfare problem in regions with warm, humid conditions. Effective prevention significantly reduces one of the most distressing conditions in sheep farming.
Blowfly strike causes profound suffering - affected sheep experience severe tissue damage and pain as maggots consume living flesh. The condition can progress from initial strike to death within 3 days in severe cases. Prevention is far preferable to treatment from a welfare perspective. The most effective preventive approaches combine insecticide treatment, wool management to reduce damp soiled areas, and breeding selection for reduced strike susceptibility. Mulesing - surgical removal of wool-bearing skin around the breech - is effective but itself causes significant acute pain, creating a welfare trade-off that has generated significant controversy. Alternatives to mulesing including wool clipping, pain-managed mulesing, and genetic selection for bare breech are being developed as more welfare-positive solutions.