ISSUES POLICY
Cattle Raisers Advocate a Practical Approach to Fever Tick Eradication By J.D. Cage, TSCRA Fever Tick Committee chair
T
HERE WAS A TIME WHEN FEVER TICKS — THE VECTOR for babesiosis, or cattle fever — were found across the southern half of the U.S., from the
eastern seaboard states, across Kentucky, southern Missouri, Arkansas, down to the Gulf Coast and into all but the most arid parts of Texas. It seems as if the desert Southwest served as a natural barrier for fever ticks. Today, fever ticks have generally been contained
in a thin strip along the Texas/Mexico border, thanks to a systematic effort of USDA Animal Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), Texas Animal Health Commission (TAHC) and ranchers. However, due to some changes in the ticks’ environment in South Texas, and due to existing regulations that make it more economically and logis- tically feasible for ranchers to remove cattle from infested pastures than to treat for ticks, fever ticks appear to be moving north. Texas and Southwestern Cattle Rais-
ers Association (TSCRA) is working with TAHC to develop practical regula- tions that make it possible for ranch- ers to continue to use cattle as a tool to keep fever ticks contained within a relatively small geographic area. For more than 100 years, fever ticks
in the U.S. have been the target of a systematic control program. Since 1943, cattle fever ticks have been considered eradicated from the U.S., with the ex- ception of a permanent, systematic quarantine zone along extending from Del Rio to the Gulf of Mexico. This “buffer zone” is maintained by the
120 The Cattleman June 2016
cooperative efforts of TAHC and USDA APHIS. However, there has been a change in South Texas
that is making life easier for the fever tick and harder for ranchers to fi ght it under existing TAHC regulations. Fever ticks’ preferred host is cattle, but white-tailed deer and nilgai antelope serve as secondary hosts. The ticks seem to survive on all 3 species equally well, but show a preference for cattle. They can also be found on horses. USDA and TAHC have worked hard with landown-
ers to eradicate fever ticks, but the economic toll and burden of risk remain on the landowners. When an
Current fever tick infestation map prepared for APHIS-VS by Melinda May, 3/28/16. USDA-ARS Knipling-Bushland, U.S. Livestock Insects Research Labora- tory, Kerrville, Texas.
thecattlemanmagazine.com
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