Sept. 19060 



259 



Live Stock. 



eradication of the cattle tick and the after results of the dipping, since the loss from 

 all causes was less than 0'7:"> per cent. This loss represented in dollars and cents 

 would amount to a very small portion (about one-twelfth) of the loss incurred by the 

 sale of these animals as ' ticky ' cattle in the stock yards of the North. Other cattle 

 dipped in the same oil, bub under conditions that cannot be considered parallel, 

 suffered more severely. In order to obtain the beat results, the animals, after 

 dipping, should not be unduly exposed to the hot sun nor driven any considerable 

 distance, but should receive plenty of food and good water. They should be allowed 

 to stand for four or more days after dipping and prior to shipment. Dipping should 

 not be attempted until after they shall have shed their winter coats, as a large 

 percentage of all cattle dipped before the heavy coat is lost suffer from a severe 

 irritation of the skin. 



" The method usually adopted in dipping cattle is to construct a narrow 

 swimming tank with a chute at one end for the entrance of the cattle and a sloping 

 exit at the other end where the cattle emerge after getting a uniform coating of oil 

 in passing through tiie vat. A drip chute or floor is connected with the exit where 

 the excess of oil is allowed to drip off the animals and to drain into the vat. Plans 

 and specifications for installing a dipping plant suitable for either small farms or 

 large ranges are published in Farmers' Bulletin No. 152, which may be obtained 

 from this department. It is relatively more expensive to dip cattle in the South 

 where the farms and plantations contain a small number of cattle than in the range 

 country of the southwest, where this method of eradicating ticks becomes not only 

 plausible and practicable, but also economical. When cattle have been properly 

 dipped in Beaumont crude petroleum or any other approved petroleum under the 

 supervision of a veterinary inspector, and by him found free of infection, they may 

 be shipped to any point above the quarantine line subject only to such restrictions 

 as may be imposed at the point of destination. Such cattle must be shipped in clean, 

 disinfected cars, and must not be driven through the quarantined area or be unloaded 

 therein, except at those points designated by the Secretary of Agriculture. It is 

 earnestly recommended that such shipments shall not occur earlier than four to 

 eight days after the dipping is performed. 



li Greasing the legs and sides of cattle with cottonseed oil, fish oil. or Beau- 

 mont crude petroleum will assist in preventing the ticks from crawling up en the 

 body. In small herds, smearing the cattle with a mixture of one gallon of kerosene, 

 one gallon of cottonseed oil and one pound of sulphur, or with a mixture composed 

 of equal parts of cottonseed oil and crude petroleum, or with Beaumont crude oil 

 alone, has proved efficacious when applied to the skin two or three times weekly 

 during the tick season. For this purpose sponges, syringes, brushes, mops, or 

 brooms may be used. This method not only kills the older ticks on the cattle by 

 mechanically plugging up their breathing pores, but also makes the legs so slippery, 

 that the seed ticks are uuable to get a foothold in order to crawl up on the cattle. 



" Where a large number of animals are to be treated, but not sufficient to make 

 it advisable to construct a dipping vat, spraying the infested animals has given very 

 favorable results. The animals should be placed in a chute or a stall or tied to a tree, 

 and then sprayed with Beaumont oil or a 5 per cent, solution of any of the standard 

 coal tar dips. The solution may be applied by means of a force pump, such as is used 

 by orchardists to spray fruit trees, or by placing the solution in a barrel upon a 

 wagon or on a platform above the animals, and allowing the fluid to gravitate 

 through a hose, to the end of which is attached an ordinary sprinkling nozzle. The 

 solution is then allowed to flow over the skin of the auimal, especially upon the legs 

 and under portions of the body. If the cattle are on tick-infested pastures, this 

 treatment— either smearing or spraying— must be continued through the whole 

 season, and if thoroughly done it will leave the fields free from ticks the following 

 year."— Oil Reporter (Neiv York.) 



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