CATTLE TICK.

Taranaki Daily News, 18 March 1921, Page 8

CATTLE TICK.

NECESSITY FOR CAUTION, TARANAKI SO FAR FREE. i Ftom time to time during the past year there have been indications that the Taranaki farmer, unless he is very careful, will have another stock trouble to contend with. A cattle tick, which • for many years has affected herds in the nort of Auckland, has, within the ( past two or three years, begun to spread, and is now known to exist in ’ the Bay of Plenty, and in the Waikato. There is an ominous sound in the * words “cattle tick” to any farmer. He reads of the ravages by “tick” in America, in South Africa, and in Australia, Indeed the Commonwealth experience is sufhcißnt to warrant the presence of any tick being treated with the utmost < seriousness. The tick came to Australia with half a dozen milch cows, landed in the Northern Territory iii the seventies, and it would have paid Australia ( well to given a million pounds apiece for those cows and drowned them, instead of letting them bring a pest which, apart altogether from the colossal mortality it has caused, to-day costs Australia £lOO,OOO a year in hide deterioration alone» Fortunately, the tick which is affecting New Zealand cattle is not the same as the one which decimated the herds of Australia, but parasites have an unholy faculty for developing as very active agents, if not ( the cause, of diseases which cost money and retard production. For some time past we have been making careful enquiry into this matter. Settlers in affected areas were visited, and officials engaged in combating the evil placed valuable information at our disposal. The form and re. suit of our enquiries may be summarised thus: (1) What is the origin of the trouble? Uncertain, but probably introduced by imported cattle or fodder. Has been known to exist in North Auckland for many years. Dr. Gilruth (then Chief Government Veterinarian) so far back as 190 G, reported that the pest required investigation, but until the last two years its presence seenied *of so little moment that stock-owners and officials took little notice of it. (2) Is it increasing? Apparently the tick has spread more rapidly of recent years, but whether this is actually so, or whether more careful observation has now detected the infection where it was ifot previously thought to exist, is open to question. It is, however, beyond doubt that the pest does affect herds in North Auckland, Bay of Plenty and Waikato. (3) Is it dangerous in itself, or is there any disease of which the New Zealand tick is likely to be the cause or active agent?

In making this enquiry we had in mind the fearful cost to the Dominion of blackleg and contagious abortion, pests which for years existed and did comparatively little harm, and then in a few months developed into a veritable scourge. So far no dangerous sickness has been observed as the result of tick worry in New Zealand. It does result in restless nerves and a lowered condition, both qf which very greatly affect the milk yield of cows. Perhaps the bluntest way of expressing the condition set up is to say that a tick-worried cow is about as uncomfortable as a man infected with lice.

Lice are responsible for spreading disease as well as discomfort; so also the tick, by lowering the general tone of its victim, renders it more susceptible to disease. So far as we can ascertain, it is impassible, without very much fuller investigation than has been carried out so far, to say whether the New Zealand cattle tick is the cause or, active agent of any disease. It certainly is verminous, and vermin usually aid disease.

(4) What is being done to arrest the spread of the pest? The Government has issued drastic regulations which: (a) Compel any stockowner to report immediately the presence of tick to an inspector, and the locality automatically becomes an infected area, (b) compel the owner to destroy the ticks by dipping or other methods, to the satisfaction of the inspector. After such treatment no cattle can be moved from an infected area except with a certificate from an inspector that they are free of tick, (c) Penalises exposure for sale, or placing in any yaids (except for immediate slaughter) any tick infected cattle, (d) Penalises any movement of affected cattie without .permission of an inspector, (e) Prevents the shipment of cattle from any port in the North Island without a certificate that they are free of tick. The department is exercising the utmost vigilance in detecting the presence of tick, because before eradication can be attempted the full scope of the infection must be known. In the meantime effort is being concentrated upon treatment of herds known to be affected. The Government has subsidised public departments in various localities, and is prepared to do so wherever the need arises. The individual stock-owner in the infected areas is now actively trying to assist in combatting the evil. Time was, and not so long ago either, when complaints were made that the regulations were too drastic. These have ceased, as settlers recognise the necessity for grappling with the menace to the dairy farmer. Some urge that the Government might be more generous in its subsidies for dips, and that these might be pushed ahead much more rapidly than they have been. These are details, however, which do not affect the principles underlying the attempts to arrest the evil, Others urge that very thorough scientific research in. to the whole question is what is required, and at once. That regulations issued in October, 1919, were not enforced in one district until a year later, and only then when ticks had shown an alarming increase. These stock-owners main, tain that no definite pronouncement as to the nature of the tick and its possibilities for doing harm has ever been given to the farming community. They point out, further, that the regulations only apply to cattle known to he affected. They want to know if there is any means of comprehensively dealing with the trouble and stamping it out. To this the department replies that it must know the extent of the infection first, and when this is known it will perhaps be possible to close in upon the infected area and gradually eliminate the pest. jo). Is 'Taranaki frsa o£ tick#

So far as is known Taranaki is free from tick. To keep it so, no farmer should bring cattle from any northern district without obtaining from the seller a certificate that such cattle are free of tick, and, to make assurance doubly sure, ho could refer such certificate* to a stock inspector for corroboration. It must be remembered that tick are found in the Waikato, i.e., next door. To prohibit movement of stock from Waikato to Taranaki would probably bear harshly upon settlers in both districts, even if it were practicable to enforce such prohibition, which seems doubtful. It is up to Taranaki farmers to protect themselves and assist the Dominion generally by helping to check the growth of this trouble. If tick gains entrance to this province it will, add a great deal of unremunerative work to the already hard-worked dairy farmer, cause a good deal of suffering among stock, and may very seriously reduce the output of Taranaki produce. With all that the Government can, and will do, the farmer must miss no precaution which will keep Taranaki dairy herds free of what is at best a verminous pest, and may yet prove something even more dangerous. It is with no intention of raising any unnecessary alarm that we place these facts before the farmers of Taranaki. The evil is at the door of the province, but it can and must be kept out.