TREATMENT FOR SHEEP TICK 



333 



the larval stage, and the species is most abundant in spring and 

 summer. Lambs suffer particularly just after the older sheep have 

 been sheared, for in the hair of the unsheared lambs the ticks find 

 a safe retreat and succulent food close at hand. It is roughly 

 estimated that a tick will take from a lamb four drops of blood 

 per day, or possibly about one-fifteenth of a fluidounce. As many 

 as one hundred ticks can be found sometimes upon one lamb. If 

 we, however, halve that number, averaging it at fifty ticks, a 

 conservative estimate, 

 we get the astonishing 

 result of two hundred 

 drops of blood being 

 sucked from the lambs 

 daily. 



Treatment. Scrub- 

 bing or combing or 

 washing with water will 

 do but little good. Dip- 

 ping with some insecti- 

 cide is the only sure 

 remedy. Dips are 

 made from coal-tar or 

 creosote products as 

 follows: One gallon of 

 dip to one hundred 

 gallons of water; this 

 to be used once in the 

 spring immediately 



shearing and 



. ,, ,. n i . 



in the fall before 

 the sheep go into winter quarters. They should be kept in the 

 liquid at least one minute. If they are not so dipped, the ticks, 

 as mentioned above, will migrate as soon as possible to the 

 unshorn lambs. 



Sheep added to the flock from the outside should be dipped 

 before they join the home flock, to prevent the introduction of 

 ticks and other parasites. Dipped sheep should not be returned 

 at once to the same pen or enclosure occupied before shearing or 

 dipping, but should be allowed to remain for a while hi a different 

 enclosure to prevent reinfestation. A second dipping should be 

 given about twelve days after the first. However, a careful 



- ^34. Sheep tick, enlarged, and enlarged foot. 

 (Lugger.) 



