Macon beacon. [volume] (Macon, Miss.) 1859-1995, 1915-09-24

Ses AOA oARRhAh
Heavily infested by Ticks.
(Milk fiow down q p. co.
Daily yield Value at 90
On .,,,. In quarts. per quart.
20 heavily licked cows % S.@
Loss per day ........ 81 SIS
Loss for 200 days
milking .............1 Ia. 400 5000
Cost OF dipping herd and freeing It
Profit per year from dipping ........ $4,000
The tick, when sucking the blood
also suffers greatly through lack of
ability to import pure-bred stock.
About 60 per cent Of the cattle
brought in from the North, according
to the departments estimate. sue.
cumb to Texas fever.
Ticks Take Toll From Hides.
The tick. when sucking the blood
OF cattle, lessons the value Of the
hide, reducing 1t from a No. 2 quality
to that known Is No, 4. The differ
ence in price between these two
grades of hide is three cents a pound.
AS the hide of southern steers weigh
about AZ pounds, the presence of the
tick In the hide causes a loss in the
hide alone of more than 1925 q hidA.
1t has been shown that the cost Of
tick eradication is less than fifty cents
a head, so that the increased value of
the hide of the animals would pay the
cost OF eliminating the tick, and leave
the farmer a profit Of about seventy.
six cents. when considering the hide
alone.
These heavy annval losses Of cattle
raisers In the infected district can be
entirely effaced, and at a cost small
In proportion to the return; for, with
enthusiastic stockmen, satisfactory
state legislation, sufficient money and
a trained corps of inspectors, the cat
tie tick may be exterminated, and ev-
cry dollar expended in this work will
be returned MANIFOLD during each
succeeding year. The United States
department Of agriculture bears part
OF the cost of Kidding the country of
ticks by sending, without expense to
the county where the work Is tc be
conducted, its field men to supervise
the building Of watts and the dipping
of cattle. The total cost of dipping
cattle at most is so cents a head, and
in some counties 1t has been estimat-
ed to cost the county and its citizens
not over 20 cents a head.
The department Of agriculture has
published a number of bulletins on
different aspects Of the tick problem,
which will be sent on application.
Among these are Farmers Bulletins
No. 500, Eradication of the Cattle
Tick Necessary for Profitable Dairy
ing" No. 500, Texas or Tick Fever"
No. $50. Beef Production in the
South" No. 496, Methods Of Exter.
minating the Texas Fever Tick" spe-
cial Circular, Effects of Tick Eradi-
cation Upon the Cattle Industry Of the
South" and circular on Progress
and Results of Cattle-Tic Eradica-
ton"
The accompanying picture shows
the emaciated condition of a steer in.
tested with ticks. This animal was
dipped in an arsenical bath on August
IL, to kill the ticks. At that time he
weighed 730 pounds. He was contin-
ued on the same feed that he had re-
ceived before dipping, and on October
IL weighed LIS pounds, a gain Of 1856
pounds.
Dipping tick-infected cattle in the
.arsenical bath is being done In many
parts of the South. The given illus.
tration shows one Of the forms of dip
ping watts used. Five cents worth Of
arsenic per head is all that is re-
quired. The vat costs from $50 to
500. Once the vat is built, the cat
tie can be dipped as often as needed.
The only costs are driving the cattle
to the vat and handling them in the
bath.