THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



What it Costs a Country 

 TO Keep Ticks 



THE CASE OF THE UNITED STATES 



OATTLB nen 



Extra,! /rem U.S. Dtfl. of Ag^riculUirc, Bulletin No. 261. "The Cattle Tick 

 :u lis Rchtlion lo Souihcni AgricillUire," by AUGUST ^^AYER : — 



"What it costs tlie Southern States to harbor the cattle tick is not 

 easily calculated, but from observation and exjierience we can estimate 

 this loss with some assurance of approximating the truth. 



BEEF CATTLE. "Below the quarantine line we have something 

 over 15,000,000 cattle, the total farm value of which is given by the last 

 census as nearly $183,000,000. The dairy cattle are credited with a value 

 of about $58,650,000, and the other cattle with o\-er $124,000,000. From 

 observation and experience 1 estimate lliat a shrinkage' in value of 20% in 

 cattle, other than dairy cattle, is due to the effects of the cattle tick. In 

 round numbers this would mean a loss of $25,000,000 fur beef cattle." 



DAIRY CATTLE. " In the case of dairy cattle, considerable damage 

 is experienced because of the extra feed required, and the shrinkage in the 

 How of milk caused by tick infestation. It is believed that an estimate of 

 S% of the total value of the dairy cattle is not overdiarging the tick. This 

 means an annual loss of nearly $3,000,000 for dairy cattle. The total 

 depreciation then of southern cattle, on account of the tick, would be 

 $28,000,000." 



HIGHER DEATH RATE. " The average death rate among cattle in 

 the tick-infested area for the year 1904-5 was about 8.^3% ; in the tick-free 

 area it was about 3.12s. The total number of cattle that died in the tick- 

 infested area during the year ended March 31st, 1905. was about 1,250,000. 

 The average farm \alue of these southern cattle mav be put at $12, 

 according to the Bureau of Statistics ; therefore the total' annual loss from 

 death in the tick-aftected States amounted to $15,000,000. Tlie average 

 death rate in the quarantined States being nearly three times as i^reat as 

 that in the tick-free States, it is not unfair to assume that two-thirds of 

 this loss by death is directly attributable to the tick, that is $10,000,000." 



DECREASED FECUNDITY. "There is a further loss to be recorded 

 against the tick in the reduction of the fecundity of the female cattle, and 

 perhaps also in the greater proneness of tick-infested cattle to diseases or 

 abnormal conditions of the reproductive organs." 



EXCEPTIONAL EXPENDITURE. " There is also chargeable to the 

 tick the greater expense of providing pasturage or extra feed for the 

 cattle during heavy infestation, for dips and other preventive measures, 

 and for extra care and extra supervision. It is deemed a conservative 

 estimate to place the annual loss under this and the previous head at 

 S8.S00,000." 



STUNTING OF GROWTH. "There is another material charge to 

 oe entered against the tick. With tick infestation at babyhood, there is 

 very little chance to bring cattle to early maturity. The stunting which 

 they usually receive obliges us to carry them until they are three 'or more 

 years old. That means two years of extra feed and care, and capital tied 

 up unnecessarily by adverse conditions. It costs easily from $5 to $10 per 

 year to provide and care for a cow ; and to keep our 12,000,000 beef cattle 

 a year or two longer means, accordingly, an extra outlay of at least 

 $60,000,000." 



" It is very easily seen that the annual loss sustained by the Southern 

 States to-day must amount yearly to an enormous sum — $100,000,000 

 ♦jcing named in the Year Book of the Department of Agriculture for J904." 



COOPER'S CATTLE TICK DIP 

 riaa received the official approval of the following Countries : 

 Union of South Africa, Northern Rhodesia, Brazil, Basutoland, 



Nyasaland, Swaziland, Southern Rhodesia, iMadagascar, 



firitlsb East Africa, German East Africa, Portuguese East Africa, 



Portuguese West .Africa, Egypt, Argentine Republic, Queensland, 



United States of America, New South Wales. 



Northern Territory of Australia. 



Extract from US. Dept. 0/ Agriculture, Buttetin 78, on "Texas Fever," by 



Dr. John R MOHLER, V.M.D., ChUfof the PathclQgkal Division, Bureau of 



Animal Industry: — 



DECREASED MARKET VALUE. "Animals coming from tick- 

 infected districts bring an average of one-fourth to one-half a cent less 

 per pound than the quoted market price. The handicap that is placed on 

 the southern cattle raiser as a result of this decrease in value of his stock 

 will average at the former figure at least $1.50 per head, allowing an 

 individual weight of 600 pounds for all classes of animals ; so that the loss 

 on the estimated 705,000 southern cattle marketed vearlv under these con- 

 ditions will sum up at a loss of $1,057,500 per annuml^ It will be found 

 that this decreased value reacts and fixes tlie Aaluation of all cattle which 

 remain in the infected territory, thereby reducing the assets of the cattle 

 industry of that section by this ratio per head for the four and a hall 

 millions of cattle east of the Mississippi River, and the eleven millions of 

 cattle west of the Mississippi River; or, altogether, the enormous 

 shrinkage in value of $23,250,000 directly chargeable to the cattle tick." 



LOWER MILK YIELD. " The shrinkage of the milk production of 

 cattle harboring many ticks will average i quart per day, and the loss 

 occasioned thereby at 3 cents per quart for the 875,000 tic'kv dairy cattle 

 out of more than 4,000,000 dairy cattle below the quarantine line^ would 

 amount to $26,250 per day, or counting three hundred milking days for 

 each cow to the j'ear, $7,875,000 per annum." 



LOSS OF IMPORTED STOCK. "The damage resulting to the 

 southern purchaser of northern pure bred or high-grade cattle is another 

 item of no small moment. About io« of all such cattle taken South die 

 of Texas Fever, even after they are immunized bv blood inoculations, and 

 about 60X of these cattle succumb to Texas Fever when not so treated. 

 Of the approximate 4,600 of such cattle brought South each vear, at least 1 

 460 die of Texas Fever. The loss entailed would naturally depend on the 

 value of each animal, and since the prices paid for such well-bred cattle 

 range from $ioo to §1,000 or even more, it can readily be conceived that 

 the yearly loss from this item alone varies from $46,000 upward " 



Extract from a Paper read by DR. F. BAHNSEN, Chief Veterinarian of the 



State of Georgia, at the Kji; Annual Meeting of the Unitui States Lire Stock 



Sanitary Association : — 



LOSS OP MILK. " Tick infestation costs the Southern States each 

 and e\eiy year not less than J 150,000,000. Every milk cow infested with 

 ticks will give anywhere from a quart to as nmch as a gallon less milk than 

 one that is not infected with ticks. If they are infested with ticks they 

 will not recover their normal milk flow again until the next period of 

 lactation. That item itself (and let us place it conservativelv at a loss not 

 exceeding $15 a head on each and every milk cow) will make an item in 

 excess of $75,000,000." 



LOSS OF CONDITION. " When your cattle get infested with ticks 

 they get poor. They get thin in liesh and you have to sell them for less 

 money. It is a certainty that the diiference in value between a poor cow, 

 infested with the tick, and the value of the cow if she were not tick- 

 infested is conservatively, even with our scrub cows, $5 a head, and on 

 that basis we lose not less than ^45,000,000 or $50,000,000 on that 

 one item." 



WEST INDIAN AGENTS ; 



ST. KITT5: 5. I.. Horsford & Co. A^TlalJA: Bennett. Bry<oa&C«. 



JAMAICA: I). Henderson & Co.. Kinsr^ton. 



UKENADA: Thom.son. Hanke.v ,& Co. 



BARBADOS: Barbados Co-operative Cotton Co., Ltd, 



BAHAMA..-^: \V. N. Twynam, Nassau. 



TRINIDAD: T. Qeddcs Orant. Port of 5patn. 



BKiriSH OLIANA: -Sandbuch, Parker & Co. 



ST. VINCENT: Coreu & Co.. Kinsrslown. NEVIS: 5. D. MaloDC. 



DANISH WEST INDIES: Carl V. La Beet, St. Thomas. 



MONTSERRAT: \V. Llewellyn Wall. DOMINICA: Hon. H. A. pramcton. 



ST. LUCIA: Barnard Sons & Co., Castries. 



Manufacturers : WILLIAM COOPER & NEPHEWS, Berkhamsted, England. 



BRANCHES : Toronto, Chicago, Sydney, Mclbounie, Auckland, Buenos Airei, Monte Video, Punia Arenas, East London, QituK 



