DIPPING CATTLE 



The Benefit and Practicability of Dipping Cattle on 

 Large Holdings 



Me. E. E. D. White, of Bluff Down, North Queensland, writes 

 me as follows : — 



It is over twenty years since ticks first made their appear- 

 ance in the Burdekin waters, when we lost up to 60 per cent of 

 our cattle from tick fever. Those that survived and their 

 progeny became immune from the fever, and the immurfity re- 

 mains with the cattle on all country that continues to be 

 badly infected with ticks. So there are practically no losses 

 from fever now. But the extent of the loss we sustain annually 

 through tick worry is not generally realised. Although most 

 cattle stations now have dips, with very few exceptions, no 

 systematic and methodical attempts have been made to deal 

 effectively with this pest. 



' After ten years' trial here we can emphatically say that in 

 badly infested areas no investment offers such a reliable and 

 quick return as money spent on dips and dipping. 



To L'auge in some degree the extent of the loss we are sus- 

 taining, compare the number of cattle carried on these rims 

 before and after the coming of the tick. The average is 

 now aboul half that of former times. Convert that into terms 

 ot money to realise the loss to the community and State. 



" it is impracticable at the present time to talk of eradica- 

 tion., because of the impossibility of getting financial aid from 

 the State and the high cost of fencing. But the Americans 

 have proved it possible by clearing 475.000 square miles 

 between 1900. when Hie work was first undertaken there 

 seriously, up to March, 1916. This task must be faced by us 

 later, and because the conditions we will have to work under 



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