January disease: Prevention is better than cure
MOsT parts of the country have been receiving rains and farmers have been busy in the field. While rains support our summer cropping activities, they usually bring with them ticks, which trigger tick-borne diseases such as redwater, heartwater and theileriosis (commonly referred to as January disease).
Tick-borne diseases are illnesses transmitted to animals through the bite of infected ticks.
The theileriosis season usually peaks in January; hence it was named January disease.
It becomes incumbent upon farmers to regularly inspect their cattle to check tick manifestations.
It also becomes imperative for farmers to regularly dip their cattle to avoid unnecessary loss of their livestock.
since 2016, more than half a million cattle have succumbed to January disease.
This translates to over US$250 million that the country lost in potential revenue.
More than 65 percent of cattle deaths in Zimbabwe are caused by tick-borne diseases.
The Government has responded by introducing a raft of measures that include the Presidential Tick Grease scheme and a countrywide programme to construct and refurbish dip tanks.
Controlling theileriosis, like all other tickborne diseases, depends on controlling the tick vector — and dipping is one of them.
Other ancillary efforts to contain theileriosis include the application of tick grease.
The term cattle dipping means the application of acaricide to cattle for the purpose of destroying parasites which infest their skin, especially ticks.
Cattle dipping methods Cattle spray race
This method is gaining prominence because of its effectiveness in managing water and acaricide. since they reduce the risk of harming livestock, spray races are appropriate, especially for commercial purposes.
Cattle are driven through a tunnel and are sprayed with acaracide solutions targeted at all parts of the animal. A thorough soaking of the animal’s body has become possible with the advent of well-designed systems.
To ensure that all ticks attached to the animal’s body are killed by the chemical, the level of wetness should not differ from that of cattle going through the plunge dip.
To guarantee appropriate cover and successful tick management, however, proper maintenance and practices must be followed.
In order to achieve an even cover, nozzles must be carefully set, regularly removed and cleaned.
spray races need to be maintained at the proper pressure.
Without creating a mist, the dip wash must penetrate the animal’s coat. Dip wash will not adequately penetrate the coat, the animal’s ears or the area under its tail if the pressure is too low.
Plunge dip
This is the most common method of dipping cattle.
A plunge dip is a structure that enables total immersion of cattle in water charged with an acaricide. such dips are usually made of concrete — fixed or transportable.
Plunge dips, when built and utilised properly, ensure that the entire animal is soaked.
Maintaining correct dipping and replenishing records is crucial because insufficient dipping results in ineffective tick management and tick resistance to acaricides.
Of paramount importance is the observation of the manufacturer’s instructions on charge and re-charge, as this has been the Achilles heel of this method.
In most cases, farmers are continuing to use under-strength/compromised dipping mixture due to reliance on the “smell test” (if you can smell the chemicals then all is well), when, in fact, they would be running weak solutions that encourage tick resistance over time.
All animals must be dipped every dip day, apart from very young calves and highly pregnant cows.Pregnant, young, sick or old animals may not be dipped at all, but can be sprayed or treated using alternate methods.
fixed dips must be long, wide and deep enough to totally submerge the animal as it plunges and force it to swim a distance.
Pour-ons
This is when topical treatments are applied topically to an animal’s skin in tiny dosages.
They contain a spreading component, typically oil-based, that enables the dip to cover the animal’s skin. Pour-ons are more expensive than plunge or spray dips, but they are more effective against flies and midges and can be used in fly-control programmes.