478 DISEASES OP CATTLE. 



should not be restocked until the following spring (April), at which 

 time all the eggs laid there before September 1 will have hatched, 

 the seed ticks will have starved, and the pasture will be free of ticks. 

 It may then be used for cattle that have no ticks upon them. In 

 case the cattle are not free of ticks when placed in the cultivated field 

 or noninfested pasture on September 1, they will infect this field and 

 will carry ticks to the original pasture if placed there in the spring. 



By cultivation. — Another method of destroying ticks on pastures 

 is to cultivate the soil for a year without permitting any ticky cattle, 

 horses, or mules on the ground during this period. After this treat- 

 ment the field will be without any Texas-fever ticks and may be re- 

 stocked with cattle not infested with these parasites. 



By burning off the grass. — Pastures that are too large to be disin- 

 fected by the above measures or those grazing lands that are open 

 and can not be inclosed, or ranches where a division of the pasture is 

 impracticable, may be freed from ticks by burning them off in the 

 spring or fall and then keeping tick-infested animals from the land. 

 It is advisable to burn off the grass in the spring when practicable, 

 as this permits the pasture to recover quickly and to supply feed in 

 several weeks. 



HOW TO FREE CATTLE AND PASTURES OF TICKS AT THE SAME TIME. 



By the "feed-lot" method. — The "feed-lot" method has been re- 

 cently recommended by Morgan after conducting field experiments 

 in Louisiana and has for its object the ridding at the same time of 

 pastures and cattle of the fever tick. This plan, like the "soiling" 

 method, suggested by Curtice, is based upon the length of time the 

 tick lives upon cattle and the period required for the eggs to be laid 

 and hatched and the seed ticks to attach themselves to their host. 

 For carrying out this idea take a field which has been sown to corn, 

 millet, sorghum, or other forage and fence off three lots within such 

 a field, in one of which the ticky cattle are placed on June 1 by 

 removal from their customary pasture." (See fig. 1.) In the first 

 feed lot the greater number of ticks drop off and lay eggs. After an 

 interval of twenty days and before these eggs have had time to 

 hatch, the cattle are moved to the second inclosure, where they are 

 kept another twenty days, when they will in many instances be free 

 of ticks and can be turned into the forage field. However, in case 

 ticks are still present, the cattle should be placed in a third paddock 

 for fifteen days longer. All the ticks that were on the animals when 

 placed in the feed lots will have dropped off now, and, as the cattle 

 leave each feed lot before they can become reinf ested by the seed ticks 

 which hatch from the eggs of the ticks that fall off, they will be clean 



"From our experience the two lots recommended by Morgan would not be 

 sufficient under all conditions. 



