120 



FARMER'S CYCLOPEDIA OF LIVE STOCK 



the Bureau of Animal Industry to take 

 up this work in co-operation with state 

 authorities. 



The cattle tick is reddish and flat- 

 tened. When gorged with blood the ticks 

 are nearly as deep as wide. Other spe- 

 cies of ticks are not concerned in trans- 

 mitting Texas fever in this country. 

 The ticks appear on cattle about the 

 first of June. When mature they drop 

 to the ground and deposit their eggs, 

 which hatch in about 25 days, after 

 which the young ticks attach themselves 

 to grass and weeds from which location 

 they infest cattle. Aside from the fact 

 that ticks carry Texas fever, their pres- 



Mycotic stomatitis j s a disease of the 

 mouth and feet of cattle and has ap- 

 peared in the summer and fall in cer- 

 tain sections of the country duriug the 

 last five years. It has caused much 

 alarm in some localities on account of 

 its resemblance to foot and mouth dis- 

 ease. It is noninfectious and is due to 

 eating moldy food. The symptoms are 

 loss of appetite, dribbling of the saliva 

 and inability to eat. Sores appear in 

 the mouth and occasionally on the feet 

 and teats. It is not a serious disease 

 and should be treated with antiseptic 

 washes such as a 2 per cent solution 

 of creolin or carbolic acid. 





Fig. 68 — CATTLE TICKS. EXCESSIVE INFESTATION OF SKIN 



ence on cattle in large numbers causes 

 anemia, loss of weight, stunting and, in 

 serious cases, death. Badly infested 

 cows, according to Mayer, do not breed 

 until three or four years of age and 

 steers fail by two hundred pounds of 

 reaching their normal size. 



Nagana i s an infectious blood disease 

 attacking cattle and horses and probably 

 transmitted only by the bite of the 

 tsetse fly. According to most authori- 

 ties it does not occur in any of our pos- 

 sessions, but Musgrave and Clegg claim 

 it is identical with surra; this is based 

 on their investigations in the Philip- 

 pine Islands. 



ANIMAL PARASITES 



Cattle are subject to infestation 

 with flukes, bladder worms, tapeworms, 

 round worms, mites, ticks and insects. 

 Most of the external parasites may be 

 destroyed by dipping. The internal par- 

 asites, especially stomach worms, are to 

 be treated with drenches of a 1 per 

 cent solution of creosote or gasoline, as 

 recommended for lambs. There is no 

 satisfactory treatment of liver flukes. 

 In Missouri and certain other central 

 states, cattle are sometimes infested with 

 a parasitic worm similar to that which 

 causes nodule disease of sheep and 

 known as Oesophagostomum inflatum. 



