The Rubbing assessment is used on its own for users to determine the cause or causes of rubbing in their sheep. However, it is also used by the Short Wool assessment and the Long Wool assessment to determine specifically whether Lice are the cause of rubbing in that particular case.
For the Short Wool assessment the result, probability of lice, is used by the Short Wool assessment calculations.
The Long Wool assessment does not need to use the result, although that program does assume that the rubbing observed is due to lice.
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Look for lice on the sheep most affected by rubbing. Check about 10 sheep, checking 5 partings on each side. You can stop as soon as you find any lice.
Very low numbers of lice can cause sheep to rub. You may have to inspect many wool parts to find them.
If you cannot find lice, you need to check the items in the Tabsheet "Lice not seen" because there are many reasons why you might not be able to find lice even if they are the cause of rubbing.
Conditions may not be suitable for seeing lice even if they are present.
Lice are only 2mm long, you need good vision and good lighting. It is much easier to recognise lice if you have seen them before.
Chemical treatments that affect lice may suppress them so that you are unable to see any even though they are present and causing rubbing.
Seeds or burrs from plants such as barley grass, spear grass and erodium ('geranium' or corkscrew) can work their way down to skin level and penetrate the skin to cause irritation and rubbing or biting. This is mostly seen in late spring and summer.
Itchmite is not common when macrocyclic lactone (ML) drenches (e.g. Ivermectin) are part of the usual drench rotation and dips containing rotenone or sulphur give some itchmite control.
If itchmites are suspected, skin scrapings may be tested, but may give negative results even if mites are present. Or you can drench the affected animals with a mectin drench twice, three weeks apart and check for improvement 4-6 weeks after the last drench.
Wool breaks follow nutritional stress or disease such as flystrike. It will be over the entire fleece if a break is causing wool loss.
Rubbing may occur in sheep running in bush, crop stubble or other plants high enough to rub on the body as the sheep walk through.
This usually shows as a light wispy tip on the sides of the body, sometimes with wool tags where the fleece has snagged on a twig and will be seen on most sheep in the mob, without becoming severe on any sheep.
With bush rub you will not see any sheep actively rubbing and biting, nor see wool on fences.
There are other causes of rubbing including less common diseases, breeds that shed wool or just sheep catching their wool in fences. Some of these will affect the whole flock, while others will affect individual sheep.
Some breeds of sheep shed their fleece naturally in spring through to mid-summer. During this time some itchiness and rubbing may be shown. These breeds include Wiltshire Horn, Dorper and Damara and their crosses.
Photosensitivity can lead to sheep rubbing their faces and ears on the ground. Typically the ears will be swollen with fluid and hanging down. Facial eczema, which is a severe form of photosensitivity caused by liver damage can result in extensive skin damage.
Could it be some other cause not covered elsewhere, such as fleecerot, dermo, flystrike, backline dermatitis (sunburn), etc.?
Some exotic diseases such as scrapie, sheep pox, lumpy skin diseases and Aujesky's disease can cause itchiness and rubbing, among other symptoms. Rapid diagnosis is critical to minimise the impact of an exotic disease. Owners are legally obliged to report cases where an exotic diseases is suspected.
Are there unusual deaths, illness, nervous signs or skin lesions associated with rubbing?
