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APHIS-24-013 | February 2024

For More Information

If you have questions, contact the Cattle Fever 

Tick Eradication Program or Texas Animal 

Health Commission.

USDA APHIS Cattle Fever Tick

Eradication Program

120 San Francisco Ave.

Laredo, TX 78040

Email: feverticks@usda.gov

Phone: (956) 726-2228 

Texas Animal Health Commission

(main office)

2105 Kramer Lane

Austin, TX 78758

Email: comments@tahc.texas.gov 

Phone: (512) 719-0700

Cattle Fever Tick 

Research Milestones

Cooperative Work Towards

a Common Goal 

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) 

Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service 

(APHIS) is responsible for protecting the health 

of American agriculture, including our livestock 

industries. As part of our mission, APHIS leads 

the Cattle Fever Tick Eradication Program 

(CFTEP), a cooperative effort started in 1906 

to rid the country of a serious cattle disease 

called babesiosis. The program depends on 

Federal and State animal health officials, the 

cattle industry, and producers, both in the 

United States and in Mexico, working together to 

prevent the spread of this tick-borne illness.

Commonly called cattle fever, babesiosis causes 

cattle to lose weight, produce less milk, and 

even die. The disease caused enormous losses 

to the cattle industry in the past. Before the 

eradication program began, direct and indirect 

economic losses were estimated to be $130.5 

million—more than $3 billion today. USDA and 

its partners worked together to eradicate the 

disease from the country by 1943, except for a 

permanent quarantine area along the Texas/

Mexico border, where the ticks that carry this 

disease are still found. Mexico continues to 

find babesiosis, so this buffer zone plays an 

important role in keeping ticks from spreading 

the disease back into the United States. USDA 

works closely with the Texas Animal Health 

Commission (TAHC) to carry out cattle fever 

tick eradication efforts. USDA and TAHC rely 

on research partners for livestock, wildlife, and 

environmental treatments, and for strategy and 

planning for future outbreak management. 

CFTEP research partners outside USDA APHIS 

and TAHC include the USDA Agricultural 

Research Service, Texas Agricultural Mechanical 

University, and Northern Arizona University. 

Deer at an Ivermectin corn feeder.

Front Cover Photo: CFTEP mounted patrol officer looking for 

stray animals from Mexico. Inset: An unfed male cattle fever tick.
✭ Coumaphos (Co Ral):

This pesticide treatment 

is used in dip vats and 

sprayed on animals. It 

quickly kills ticks. Co 

Ral treatment allows 

producers to sell 

their animals almost 

immediately, and there

is little tick resistance.

✭ BM86: This anti-tick 

vaccine is used in 

the quarantine zone. 

When used with other 

treatments, BM86 can 

kill all or many ticks on 

an animal.

✭ Dectomax: This is 

the brand name of 

doramectin, which will 

kill ticks for a few weeks 

when injected into 

an animal.

✭ Ivermectin Corn:

This is the only 

approved treatment 

for deer. When deer eat 

ivermectin-treated corn, 

it kills their ticks.

✭ Ivermectin Tubs:

These tubs can be used 

on some properties as a 

preventative treatment. 

When cattle eat molasses 

treated with ivermectin, it 

will kill ticks on them.

Current Treatments Moving Towards New Ways to Solve an Old Problem

Changing 

Landscape 

Exotic wildlife species, 

such as white-tailed 

deer and nilgai, are 

increasing in South 

Texas. These animals 

can become infested 

with and spread cattle 

fever ticks to new areas.

Rio Bravo 

Buffer Zone

A 6-month 

cooperative pilot 

project between 

USDA, Mexico, and 

the Mexican States 

of Tamaulipas and 

Coahuila, was put in 

place in 2022. Funds 

were used to treat 

animals in areas 

where stray animals 

have crossed the 

border historically. 

Carrizo Cane

Carrizo cane is an 

invasive reed that 

grows along the Rio 

Grande River. 

Along the river, 520 

miles of carrizo cane 

have been cut short 

(topped). Cutting 

the cane and using 

biocontrol wasps 

stunts the cane’s 

growth and reduces 

the area where 

livestock coming in 

from Mexico can hide. 

Topping also reduces 

the area where cattle 

fever ticks might live in 

the environment and 

frees more water that 

would have been used 

by the cane.

Developing

New Treatments 

Lavender oil, 

nootkatone, and other 

botanicals have shown 

promise as treatments 

against ticks on animals, 

wildlife skins, and in 

the environment.

Nematodes that can eat 

ticks are useful when 

applied to wildlife.

Pairing current 

treatments like vaccine 

and macrocyclic 

lactones is showing a 

combined effectiveness 

against ticks.

Better vaccines that 

target both ticks and 

babesiosis are in 

development.

Population 

Genetics and

Tick Resistance

Program cooperators 

are studying population 

genetics to learn 

where cattle fever 

ticks originated and 

their relationships to 

other tick outbreaks. 

They are also testing 

for pesticide resistant 

ticks to know where to 

use certain treatments 

and how to strategize 

eradication efforts.

Preventing Spread

Program cooperators 

are testing wildlife to 

see if they can harbor 

bovine babesiosis. 

By 2026, USDA will 

have constructed 70 

miles of high fence 

to stop wildlife from 

spreading ticks.

Strategy/

Technology for 

Tick Control in 

the Future 

Technology will play a 

great role in tick control 

in the future. Examples 

include: 

✭ Applying GPS 

and GIS to better 

understand how to 

treat cattle on 

a landscape

✭ Using aerial drones 

for better habitat and 

host information 

✭ Using weather data 

to model when and 

where future tick 

outbreaks will occur

✭ Improving pen-side 

tick infestation 

detection 

Topping Carrizo cane reduces tick refuge (left); Wildlife Fencing in Zapata County, TX stops movement of tick infested wildlife (center); 

Cows ready for inspection and treatment (right).

Nilgai (top) and whitetailed deer (bottom) can 

move ticks to new areas.