The Punta Gorda herald. [volume] (Punta Gorda, Fla.) 1893-1958, 1916-02-10
CATTLE TICKS
ARE MUCH WORSE
THAN WOUNDS
Not a Theory, But Proven by
Experimen is
THERE'S MONEY INVOLVED
Increased Profits and Easy Hand
ling Makes it Worth While to
Exterminate Ticks, According
to Authorities.

to Authorities.
If one of your steers or dairy
cows got a bad cut and was bleed
ing nearly, quart of blood a day
you'd do something about it in a
hurry. You'd know that such
loss of blood would weaken the
animal, prevent its putting on
weight, and, in case of the cow,
you'd soon see the milk flow fall
off. If you couldn t handle the
wound yourself you d think it a
good investment to pay a veterl-
marian from so cents to 81, or
more, to stop the bleeding.
Ticks have the same effect on a
steer or a COW as such a wound,
but the difference is that you
don't see the blood dripping be-
cause it flows into the tick. Every
tick bite is a tiny wound on the
animal through which blood is
constantly being drawn. These
tiny wounds and the drawing of
this blood irritate the animal and
weaken it just the same as the
wound. The wound, of course,
may become infected and make
the animal very sick, but the tick
in addition to causing blood to
flow may give the animal Texas
fever and even kill it.
This is not theory. Actual ex-
periments show that where an an
imal is heavily infested with ticks
they will draw as much as 200
pounds of blood a year from a
1,000-pound steer. Of course they
do not draw this all at once, but
get it in tiny sucks. Figures show
that the blood in a steer at any
one time weighs about SO pounds.
Where the ticks are very numer-
Gus and very busy, therefore, they
force the animal to renew its
blood four times a year. This
means that blood that should go
to make milk or meat goes into
fattening ticks. An actual expert
ment showed that tick-infested
steer which weighed only 730
pounds and was a scrawny ami
NAL, when freed from ticks by be-
ing dipped in the arsenical, dip
ping bath gained 1856 pounds in
weight in two months.
The price that you'd pay a vet
erinarian for curing a wound, or
that you would spend for lini-
ments and cloths to cure the
wound yourself, would more than
pay for dipping ticky cattle, and
save this terrible drain on their
blood and strength. The trouble
in driving the animal to the dip
ping vat and letting it swim
through would be less than treat
ing the wound.
1t costs only so cents head at
most, including the first cost of
dipping vats, to clear cattle of
these bloodsuckers. 1t will cost
your county only $50 to 500 to
build dipping vat, and you
can figure how much this first
cost per head is if divided among
all the cattle near the vat. After
the vat is built, 5 cents a head
will pay for arsenic for enough
dippings to rid your county of
ticks.
Moreover, when a beef animal
has been freed from ticks, be-
cause it can be sold in the open
pens at the stockyards in compe-
tition with other free cattle, it
brings from SIS to $40 more per
head than when offered for i'm
mediate slaughter only from a
quarantine pen. 1t costs less to
ship tick-free cattle than ticky
cattle, because ticky cattle have
to be shipped under quarantine
restrictions, which add greatly to
the cost, and make the animal
worth less at home and cause it
to bring less net profit at the
packing house.
The U. S. Department of Agri-
culture will be glad to work with
you, your neighbors, your county,
and your state to free your dis
trict of ticks and help you estab-
lish a profitable stockraising and
dairying industry. 1t will sup
ply free information, and when
your district shows that it means
business and wants to take the