The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-10-15
CATTLE TICK EXPERIMENTATION,
Feed-Lot and Pasture Rotation Meth.
 Ods.

Feed-Lot and Pasture Rotation Meth. Ods.
 Harcourt A. Morgan. Press Bulletin, Tennessee Experiment Station The extermination of the cattle tick
 nay be accomplished through an intel
 lisent understanding of the life his :. l tory and habits of this pest by the l stock raisers of the tick-infested and Icuarantned area.
 l The cattle tick is a spider form, has no wings. and is dependent for it's dis. | tribution upon the animal upon which IL passes part of the period of de- velopmcnt It does net breed upon the
 animal as do cattle lice. hut is col
 fected in the seed-tick stage from | weeds grass, shrubs etc, of pastures where infested cattle have been. Tho seed ticks when collected from the pa.. | lures by cattle. or sometimes by horses and mules. develop into mature ] male and female ticks. The females, few days after becoming mature and before dropping to the ground, ensorg3 With blood until they are many times larger than the males. The males never engorge. On the ground under the shade of weeds, grass, etc. the en . gorged females each deposit from 1.5oo to 5000 eggs and die. The eggs hatch into seed ticks, which bunch upon weeds. grass. etc. In the immediate vicinity of the place where they are matched. and await the passing of ami. mals. to which they attach.
 Hence there are two conditions e,.er- tlaI 10 the development and perpetuity Of the cattle tick: first, ia yorabie pas. ture areas. where engorged females lay eggs and the eggs hatch tthe non- parasitic period); and. second. cattle and occasionally horses and mules. to which seed ticks attach and from
 which they get blood for growth anJ egg production (the parasitic periodl
 III the absence Of cattle. horses and flules Tor few months from a tickv pasture. the ticks perish and are ex termlnated, and unless they are carried into this pasture by infested cattle etc. or by overflow water from infested held. the pasture will remain perma. . nently free
 All t1cks that are picked up by cattle mature and drop to the ground again
 III rom twenty to forty days, cxcept | poverty or cold weather. when fem days longer may be required for deveI. upneht. engagements and droppinu dlcks dropped in pastures will renuiro | Hrst' rom six or more days in mid | summer 10 as many as sixty ar eynr
 more in winter for eggs to be laid ssc- oho. rom eighteen to thirty days in l he l m winter Tor eggs to hatch: and third rom two months in summer to s;x and nair in fall, winter and spring for the seed ticks to die if cattle. horsas | ana mules are not permitted in nas- | lures to collect them, ihe two important phases of exter-
 mlnation. based upon the foregoing | data, are l l, The starving out of the t,c.. ,v I the removal of their hosts-cattIe hor. res ana mules-from pastures for at | least four months In summer and nine
 in fall. winter and spring
 | II. The cleaning of animals fror,
 ticks before they are put on clean nas. lures. pA0 | As indicated above. pastures mo-, h.
 cleaned by having host animals ot tbe
 cattle tick kept off them a sufficient | length of time to permit old ticka n
 lay eggs. the eggs to hatch and the
 seed ticks to perish by starvation. This
 requires four monhs in summer and
 nine in fall. winer and spring.
 There are only two certain method.
 of cleaning cattle:
 l. The placing of the cattle. in the
 late fall. in a corn. cotton or other | field In which no cattle have been for
 at least four months, where they are continuously kept until all the ticks drop on There is no danger of rein | ioSe<ASioii run llCkS dropped from animals turned into this field. as the
 ticks require long time to lay eggs
 in the late fall, and the eggs do not | hatch in cold weather
 | Z. What is known as the feed lot
 system. which consists in confining all
 cattle of the farm in a small lot fenced
 on TOT the purpose. where they are fed and watered for twenty days. and from which they are removed to an | adjacent similar lot or another twenty | days At the end of forty days all inc
 ticks have dropped and the animals are
 clean and should be removed at once
 to meadow or other pasture known
 to be free or ticks The feed-lots must | be arranged on ground over which no | ticky cattle have passed or ground
 which Is known to have been freed of l ticks by the starvation method In
 passing the clean cattle from the last feed-lot to the clean pasture. care must
 be exercised to see that they do not
 pass over any ticky area
 l In that region of the tick infested
 area of the United States lying north of
 about latitude B degrees, cattle, on &C., count of climatic conditions, are natur- l ally free of ticks during the winter
 months. When eradication Is under 1 taken this condition will save the stock
 raisers of this area the trouble of arti | hcally freeing animals of ticks. and [ the winter period should be taken as | an important time for the changing of cattle to tick-free fields, such as ! meadow land or that devoted to fall sown cereals. | Summary.
 ]. To exterminate the cattle tick. one should understand its life history and habits.
 ?. The tick does not breed upon eat tie. as do lice. but attaches to them for a time in order to get blood for growth and egg production and then drops back to the ground
 s. The cattle tick has no means ,,r transporting itself from place to place. but is dependent upon its host animals , rattle. horses and mules-for dissa- imitation. f On the ground each cngorsed fe- male lays from 1.5o0 to 5000 eggs. and these eggs hatch into seed ticks which bunch and are picked up by pass ing animals.
 5. The cold weather of fall and win ter greatly rctards the egg laying of ticks and the matching of the eggs. and makes 1t possible for seed ticks to live longer without food.
 ! 6 The larger areas of the ruaran- tined portion of the United States de- voted to the culture of corn, cotton ,orage and other crops which force an entire absence of cattle from thr dur ing the growing as"n. arc annuA fly free of ticks and should be utilized m reducing the infested territory of every farm.
 IL, ,i