No. 7. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 7t 



thereto. Additional regulations provide for the marking of the cars 

 in which such cattle are shipped, the disinfection of these cars, and 

 the marking of way bills, conductor's manifests, etc. 



Unfortunately, during the month of July, two carloads of southern 

 cattle, bearing ticks, were unloaded at the stockyards at Lancaster 

 to be fed and watered. The cattle were unloaded at night and the 

 next morning it was observed that they carried a great number of 

 ticks. These cattle were afterward forwarded to their destination, 

 for slaughter. The pens they had occupied were cleaned and were 

 kept vacant a few weeks, after which they were returned to their 

 regular use. Later in the season, cattle that passed through certain 

 pens of the Lancaster stockyards, including the pens known to have 

 been occupied by the cattle referred to above, developed Texas fever 

 and many of them died. After leaving the stockyards at Lancaster, 

 these cattle were shipped to farms in the counties of Lancaster, 

 Lebanon, Bucks, Chester, Berks. Examination showed that they 

 carried the southern cattle tick {Boophilus annidatus). Altogether, 

 as many as 81 cattle died; perhaps 15 cattle that developed some 

 symptoms of Texas fever overcame the disease. 



There were several instances wherein infection passed from cattle 

 from the stockyards in Lancaster to other native cattle with which 

 they came in contact on the farms to which they were taken. A 

 case of this kind is reported by Dr. Noack as follows: Some north 

 ern cattle from the stockyards at Lancaster were brought to Read- 

 ing August 10. Two of these, a bull and steer, subsequently died of 

 Texas fever. There were many ticks upon them. A native cow 

 purchased from a farmer who resided near Reading was placed in 

 the stable with the bull and steer referred to, on August 28. Dr. 

 Noack was called to see this cow on September 15. At that time 

 she showed characteristic symptoms of Texas fever. She died Sep- 

 tember 20, and upon post-mortem examination typical lesions of 

 Texas fever were found, as follows: spleen very dark color, enlarged 

 and soft; bladder contained two quarters of bloody urine; liver, yel- 

 lowish; blood, light cherry red; yellow infiltrations around the kid- 

 neys. In this, and in several other cases, the disease was carried to 

 northern cattle from northern cattle. Emphasis is placed on this 

 point because, as a rule, the disease passes only from southern cat- 

 tle to northern cattle, on account of the fact that the season is so 

 short that there is not time for the complication of a second cycle 

 of tick development that is necessary to propagate the disease in 

 the usual way. In the cases here referred to, it is probable that 

 partly matured ticks passed directly from the northern cattle carry- 

 ing them to other northern cattle, thus transferring the disease 

 much more quickly than is possible when the mature tick drops to 

 the ground, deposits eggs which give rise to young ticks, which, in 

 turn, infest, bite and thus infect northern cattle. 



There is no possibility of the transfer of southern cattle fever to 

 the north after the onset of cold weather because this is destructive 

 to ticks. 



There is no danger of the occurrence of another outbreak of Texas 

 fever in Pennsylvania excepting as a result of a violation of the 

 United States Department of Agriculture regulations in relation to 

 the shipment of southern cattle, which the State Livestock Sani- 

 tary Board will endeavor to prevent. The stockyards at Lancaster 



