CATTLE LICE AND HOW TO ERADICATE THEM. 



CONTENTS. 



Page. 



Distribution and economic importance 3 



Suctorial lice 4 



Biting lice 5 



Nature and habit s. .. (i 



Methods of treatment . 



Page. 



Directions for dipping 11 



Dips for cattle lice 14 



Dipping plants 17 



DISTRIBUTION AND ECONOMIC IMPORTANCE. 



CATTLE LICE are widely distributed and have been recognized 

 as a pest by live-stock growers since early times. These para- 

 sites are more or less prevalent in all parts of the United States, 

 especially where cattle are held in large herds or crowded into badly 

 kept and poorly ventilated stables. In the western range country 

 cattle often become infested very heavily with lice, the degree of 

 infestation varying from year to year with climatic and other con- 

 ditions. In the farming communities the parasites usually are most 

 prevalent on underfed and poorly housed cattle, although they may 

 occur on animals in good flesh and kept in properly ventilated sani- 

 tary quarters. 



Ordinarily lice on cattle are not observed until they become so 

 numerous that they cause unmistakable signs of annoyance. Usually 

 the animals whose lousy condition first attracts attention are the 

 poor. weak, unthrifty members of the herd, and frequently the owner 

 thinks they are lousy because they are unthrifty, whereas the un- 

 thrifty condition may be caused by the lice. As a rule the individual 

 members of a herd are not affected equally, as some cattle seem to 

 be unsuitable hosts to such an extent that they may be considered 

 practically immune. However, when lice are introduced into a herd 

 during the fall or winter they usually spread rapidly until every 

 animal or nearly every animal is infested. 



All kinds of cattle lice obtain their food from the tissues of their 

 host, and the irritation caused by the parasites is evidenced by the 

 efforts of infested animals to obtain relief by rubbing and scratching. 

 When a herd is grossly infested it is not uncommon to see some of 

 the animals with large areas of skin partly denuded of hair and 

 limited areas bruised and raw from rubbing against posts and other 

 objects. The irritation, and conditions caused thereby, result in 



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