In a follow-up to a report in early December, the Texas Animal Health Commission (TAHC) has confirmed seven additional fever tick infested premises in Live Oak County since Nov. 30.
The additional premises were detected through systematic livestock and wildlife inspections conducted within the original Control Purpose Quarantine Area (CPQA), and the inspection of livestock moved to other premises as part of regular management practices.
As a result of detecting additional fever tick infested premises, the CPQA has expanded from approximately 12,587 acres on November 30, 2016, to 57,541 acres.
In addition to the Live Oak County CPQA, there are six other CPQAs located in portions of Jim Wells, Kleberg, Starr, Webb, Willacy and Zapata counties and one Temporary Preventative Quarantine Zone in Cameron County. There are approximately 541,462 acres under various types of fever tick quarantines outside the Permanent Quarantine Zone.
The TAHC continues to conduct epidemiological investigations related to the detection of fever ticks in the area, as well as ticks that may have been moved on cattle, horses, and exotic hoofstock shipped from infested premises.
Cattle Fever ticks, known scientifically as Rhipicephalus (formerly Boophilus) annulatus and R. microplus, are a significant threat to the United States cattle industry. These ticks are capable of carrying the protozoa, or microscopic parasites, Babesia bovis or B. bigemina, which cause the disease commonly known as cattle fever. The Babesia organism attacks and destroys red blood cells, causing acute anemia, high fever, and enlargement of the spleen and liver, ultimately resulting in death for up to 90 percent of susceptible naive cattle.
Here’s a bit more info. :
http://www.houstonchronicle.com/business/article/Spread-of-fever-tick-spooks-Texas-cattle-industry-10857676.php
“In Early December, the USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) released an environmental assessment (EA) titled, Cattle Fever Tick Eradication Program Use of Ivermectin Corn. The assessment analyzes the potential environmental impact of reducing cattle tick populations on white-tailed deer by feeding them corn treated with ivermectin.
APHIS requested public comments on the plan, and the comment period ended on December 27, 2016.
The plan to strategically treat deer with ivermectin conforms with recommendations South Texas producers and the NCBA provided the U.S. Fish and Wildlife service last summer. They suggested a three-pronged management plan to stop the spread of the ticks. This approach would include:
· Graze cattle on federal properties. As the preferred host for fever ticks, these cattle could be periodically gathered and treated, to break the lifecycle of the parasite.
· Strategic treatment of wildlife. Administering a broad-spectrum parasite treatment in wildlife feed, at strategic times, has been shown to reduce tick populations in the permanent quarantine zone.
· Reduce wildlife densities in problem areas. Nilgai, an exotic antelope species known to contribute to the spread of ticks, travel long distances, and their growing populations in the region pose a threat to surrounding areas.”
http://www.bovinevetonline.com/news/animal-health/texas-expands-fever-tick-quarantine-zone
Trenchers, check out the nuance of what they are saying in their “solutions”…
This article compels me to share my personal tick experience. (hope you don’t mind)
I lived here for three years without ever seeing a tick, and then, out of nowhere, the place is crawling with them at the beginning of every summer. I went from not knowing what a tick looked like, to pulling twenty-four of them off of me, and eleven off the dog last year, which seems to me like a very unnatural population spike, as if someone dumped a suitcase full of the things here. (I pulled more off me than the dog, because I don’t find them on him until they’re dug in)
Important note: A tick has to be attached for more than 24 hours before it can transmit lime disease, so if they’re present in your area, checking yourself for ticks every 12 hours (or, when you wake up, and before you go to sleep, as I do) will insure that you don’t come down with the ailment.
But of course, they can use the disgusting little things to spread any number of diseases, which may transmit to the host much sooner.