Advice on tick control

2 posts

Member for

9 years 11 months
Last seen: 03/08/2018 - 21:05
Joined: 01/04/2015 - 07:50

Advice on tick control

Hello, I am brand new to farming and have purchased 3 Murray grey heifers. We have heaps of ticks and buffalo fly. After trying to read up on what to use I went with Bayer Bomectin pour on. It work well for the first 3 weeks but now the cattle are covered in ticks and flys again. I dont know what to do now .... what can i use . We dont have any dipping equipment and went for a pour on because of this reason. We are on 5 acres and only have the 3 cows. Any help  and advise would be greatly appreciated please.

thank you Sally

Last seen: 09/17/2019 - 18:07
Joined: 11/23/2011 - 09:38

Hi Sally,

and welcome. At this time of year we cattle folk have problems with Buffaloe flies and ticks due to the high heat and humity of summer, that allows them to breed like crazy.

A broad spectrum back line containing a macrocylic lactone such as Moxydectin will take care of fly, intestinal parasites and also ticks. Moxydectin does not interfere with the life cycle of dung beetles as Ivomectin can do. Dung beetles help to control both buffaloe fly and intestinal parasites by burying the cattle dung for you. There are sites on liine where you can purchase dung beetles to seed your property with.

To prevent build up of resistance to chemical treatments it is usual not to back line until there are at least 100 flies per side on each head of cattle. Some animals are highly sensitive to fly and will have dreadful sores all over them especially around the shoulders and neck areas. This makes them very restless and anxious and they may lose a lot of condition as they constantly scratch, lick themselves and move around trying to get them off. Animals who are severly effected by fly should be culled.

I gather you must be on the East Coast where these problems are more common. My Murray greys are also having problems with fly at present. However, I will not spray until I see at least 200 hundred flies on each animal- as I have already said.

All the best,

Barb

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