Gauteng Smallholder Gauteng Smallholder November 2011 | Page 33

ANIMAL HEALTH
From page 29
Too many applications of acaricide can
R conori to humans.
lead to the ticks becoming immune to the
Other ticks found in Gauteng treatment, while not enough can lead to
include Haemapysalis
poor condition or even loss of your animals
truncatum, Rhipicephalus
follis, Rhipicephalus
microplus, Rhipicephalus
simus and Rhipicephalus
turanicus.
Vaccination against tick-borne
diseases is a complex matter
that must be carefully
managed.
Also, consider keeping
indigenous breeds of
livestock, as many of them
are hardier and able to resist
tick infestati ons.
There are different physical
methods of tick control,
including plunge dip, spray
races, hand spraying and pour
on treatments.
Few smallholders will keep
enough livestock to justify the
expense of building a
concrete dip or spray race.
Hand spraying, mostly using a
knapsack sprayer is the
cheapest way of applying
parasiticides to all kinds of
livestock. Most products
available for plunge dipping,
spray races and power
spraying are available for
hand spraying as well, just in
small packs of ten to 50 ml,
enough to fill one or two
knapsack sprayers once they
have been diluted.
Each animal must be treated
thoroughly until it is com-
pletely wet, including the
udders, the belly, below the
tail, etc. Theoretically two to
five litres (depending on the
animal's size and the hair
coat) of spray wash are
needed for each sheep, goat
horse or cow and a litre for
each pig. Do not spray a
whole group of animals at a
time, as they will not get full
coverage of the spray. Hand
spraying is quite wasteful of
the muti.
Pour-on formulations of
acaricides (muti) consist of a
high quality oil which spreads
through the greasy hair coat
of livestock. It contains
typically 1% of the active
ingredient of the acaricide.
An adjusted amount of the
pour-on is applied according
to the weight of the animal.
Pour-on formulations are
expensive to buy but there is
no wastage and they can be
cheaper per animal in the
long term.
Oily formulations can be
applied as selective spot-on
treatments. Similarly, if an
acaricide is formulated in a
grease then ears and other
sites can be treated.
It would help if you are able
to construct a crush, which is
a kind of cage, in which the
animal can be restrained
while you administer the pour
31
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on treatment.
How often you apply
acaricide depends on the
species of tick and the
livestock that you keep. Too
many applications of
acaricide can lead to the ticks
becoming immune to the
treatment, while not enough
can lead to poor condition or
even loss of your animals.
Strategic treatment is a
system that uses ecological
knowledge of the seasonal
cycle of ticks. Get advice
from a livestock veterinarian
in your area.
You also need to look at the
pasture management.
Holistic parasite manage-
Continued on page 33