CATTLE TICK ERADICATION 249 



removed from each pen before they could have become re- 

 infested by the seed ticks hatched from the eggs of the females 

 that fell off, they are tick-free. It is clear that the enclosures 

 cannot be used repeatedly for the purpose without thoroughly 

 cleansing them from ticks. It should be noted that this method, 

 as described, is only suitable for dealing with the tick which 

 carries the redwater organism, which requires to pass through 

 the eg^ stage in its progress from host to host. 



The Feed-lot Method. — This method is based upon the same 

 considerations in regard to the life-history of the tick as the 

 last. To put it into practice, a field on which forage has been 

 sown is taken, and -within it three separate enclosures or "feed- 

 lots" are made, as shown in the diagram. The tick-infested 

 cattle are removed from their customary pasture, and placed in 

 one of these enclosures for twenty days, then transferred to the 

 next for another twenty days, when, in most cases, they will be 

 free of ticks, and can be turned into the forage field. If, how- 

 ever, ticks are still present, the cattle are placed in the third 

 enclosure for fifteen days more, before being passed into the 

 forage field. 



All ticks which were on the animals when placed in the feed- 

 lots will, by this time, have dropped off, and the feed-lots are at 

 once ploughed, their edges sprayed with Beaumont oil or other 

 tick-destroying agent, and the soil cultivated. The cattle are 

 keT)t on the forage till some five months after they were dra^\^^ 

 from the pasture, by Avhich time the latter has lost its ticks bv 

 starvation, and the cattle may then be returned to it. It is 

 essential that the feed-lots be enclosed by a fence, board-tight 

 along the ground, to keep the ticks out of the forage field, and 

 it is recommended that a furrow be thrown up on both sides of 

 the fence for the same purpose. The feed-lots should be situated 

 at the boundary of the field, so that the cattle may pass from one 

 to the other over the adjoining tick-free ground. 



The Pasture Rotation Method. — The infected pasture is divided 

 into two parts by a double line of fencing 10 ft. apart. All tick- 

 infested animals are excluded from the first half of the pasture, 

 from 1st June to 10th November, thereby rendering it tick-free. 

 The tick-infested cattle are placed on the second half, where they 

 are kept from 1st June to 10th September. They are then partly 

 cleaned of ticks by putting them in a cultivated field, cleared of 

 its crop, for twenty days. The partly-cleaned cattle are then re- 

 moved to a second cultivated field, where the remaining ticks will 

 fall off within twenty days, but if any remain they are trans- 



