444 INFECTIOUS DISEASES DUE TO PROTOZOA 



(a) Hand Picking. — When only a few cattle are kept on 

 the farm or in the case of ox teams, removing the ticks by 

 picking, currying or brushing three times a week from May 

 till December effectually protects the pastures from rein- 

 festation with pregnant females and also betters the con- 

 dition of the cattle themselves., 



(b) Spraying with crude petroleum or some coal-tar dip 

 (5 per cent.) from May till December serves the same 

 purpose in small herds. Sometimes where no spraying 

 mechanism is at hand, the fluids are applied with sponges, 

 brushes or with a syringe. 



(c) Dipping. — In large herds dipping is the most practical 

 method of ridding the cattle of ticks. In many tick-infested 

 districts , community dips made of concrete are erected to 

 serve a number of farmers. Baumont crude petroleum is 

 used for the bath. The cattle should not be dipped until 

 after the shedding of the winter hair coat. If they are to be 

 shipped north of the quarantine line, the cattle must stand 

 eight days to drain thoroughly. 



(d) "Soiling Method." — The ticky cattle are placed in a 

 tick-free pen for three weeks. At the end of this period they 

 are removed to a second tick-free pen and kept in it a further 

 three weeks. If at the end of this time they are found free 

 from ticks they may be placed on a non-infested pasture. If 

 not, they are returned to a pen for two weeks longer. The 

 success of this plan depends upon the fact that all of the ticks 

 drop off the cattle while in the pens and as the animals are 

 removed to a new pen before a new crop of seed ticks can 

 hatch, no opportunity for reinfection is offered. Obviously 

 the pens must be thoroughly disinfected before using again. 



Freeing Pastures from Ticks. — There are several methods 

 of eradicating ticks from infested pastures. 



1. If the pasture be cultivated for one year and all ticky 

 cattle kept out of it, it will become rid of ticks. 



2. Burning ticky pastures each spring and fall will keep 

 them free so long as no ticky cattle are permitted on them 

 in the interim. 



3. Early in September the cattle are moved from the 

 infested pasture and cleaned of ticks. They are then 



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