Fleece Moisture and Blowfly Strike

An investigation into the moisture content in the fleece of Merino sheep was commenced after proposing the hypothesis that moisture and relative humidity were required at the skin surface for the survival of the 1st instar larvae and the initiation of a strike. A method for drying wool was developed which created a minimal disturbance to its normal constituents. It was shown that, in dry weather conditions (no rain during the previous 48 hours), distal wool was significantly drier (P<0.001) than either the medial or proximal sections. The data from the experiments on wool moisture (Hall et al.1980) were collected from proximal wool only, unless otherwise indicated. Proximal wool was defined as the section of the staple within 1.5 cm of the skin and was chosen since it could be easily measured and was less likely to be affected by the weather.