DR. GILRUTH ON TICK CONTROL.

Auckland Star, Volume LIII, Issue 73, 27 March 1922, Page 9

DR. GILRUTH ON TICK CONTROL.

UNITED STATES EXPERIENCE. j In view of the seriousness of the controversy regarding tick eradication on the north coast of New South Wales,: and tbe conflicting views expressed by I indignant dairymen on the one side anil j the Tick Board of Control on the other, a report furnished by Dr. J. A. Gilruth,' D.V.Sc, M.R.C.Y.S.. to the Department of Agriculture is decidedly opportune. This (states tbe "Sydney Morning Herald") deals with the control and eradication of tick fever of cattle in the United States. After reviewing the history of tick fever and the investigations which proved that the cattle tick was responsible for the transmission of the fever from one animal to another, the report states that in 1900 a definite systematic and combined effort to eradicate the tick and tick fever was inaugurated by the States affected and the Federal Gov. eminent. Meanwhile, a very extensive course of propaganda education hud been vigorously maintained by means of lectures, demonstrations, posters, and illustrated bulletins. Operations were commenced on the most northerly portion of the tickinfested area, but they were not confined to this portion, and wherever sufficient interest could be aroused control and eradication were undertaken. Extraordinary success has attended this work. for. whereas in 1900 there were 72S..)tifi square miles under Federal quarantine, by December, 1919. no less than 500.048 square miles had been released. In 1914} no less than :!'1,780 dips were in operation under Federal or State supervision. During September, 1919, in the affected ten States 6,207,475 head of cattle were dipped, and 'of these 519,599 were found actually infested with ticks. The total number of officials engaged--Federal, State, and local authoritynumbered 2439. In counties subject to the tick eradication regulations, each herd must be dipped every 14 days, and the utmost care is taken to see thai no animal, even the youngest, is missed. This iortjiightly dipping takes place regularly from March to December. During the winter—the beginning of December to the middle of March—the tick is virtually quiescent. Tbe Bureau of Animal Industry operates entirely through co-operation with the State and county authorities. It appoints and pays the salary of a supervising veterinarian who is experienced in tlie work for each State, as well as a number of other supervising officers. The onus of oroviding the dips and dipping material is cast upon the counties. They also nay the salaries and expenses of the dipping inspectors, who must be present at each dipping. Each inspector has a certain number of dips under his charge, the contents of which are periodically tested by Mm. The dips as a rule are so situated that no farmer is required to travel bis stock for a greater distance than two or two miles and a half.

Naturally all this work has not been undertaken without considerable opposition on the pari of a certain section, but the influence of the work previously done appears to be overcoming this hostility. The dipping (luid used is the arsenical solution, made up in much the same way and to about the same strength as the fluid used in New South Wales. In comparing the tick problem in the I'nited States with that in Australia, Dr. Gilruth points out how small is the average herd of cattle in the affected States of America, and on what small areas they are depastured. The Uuited States possesses a number of advantages over Australia, such as network of railways and roads, small holdings, the subdivision of the farms, and the cold winter months, yet even then it is found a matter of difficulty to prevent some reinfestation, and disappointments have not been wanting. Dr. Gilruth considers it impracticable at Dresent to deal with our tropical belt" but quite feasible to eradicate the tick'from the greater part of tbe southern tick area of Queensland, always presupposing the hearty co-operation of the majority of stock-owners.