Strategic tick Control Urged as Infestations Threaten Livestock productivity
Piracicaba, SP – Brazilian cattle producers are facing meaningful economic losses due to tick infestations, but researchers at Embrapa (Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation) are advocating for strategic control measures to mitigate the damage. A single infestation can lead to substantial reductions in milk and meat production, alongside costs associated with treatment and labor.
Ticks cause weight loss in animals due to decreased appetite, blood loss, and secondary infections like myiasis and skin damage, explained researcher Renato Andreotti. ”Infestation leads to weight loss through inappetence, irritability of the animal, blood loss by marked spoliation leading to anemia, bite injuries evolving into myiasis and later leather injuries,” Andreotti stated.
The impact is quantifiable: a dairy cow with just 138 ticks can experience a loss of 90 liters of milk per day, while a crossbred animal with 180 ticks can lose 2.3 arrobas (approximately 265 pounds) per year. Beyond production losses, damage to hides and the costs of acaricides, labor, and submission equipment further strain producers’ bottom lines.
To address the growing problem, Embrapa is promoting strategic tick control, a method successfully implemented in other countries. A key resource is the “tick museum,” a digital platform offering producers and technicians access to data on acaricide resistance through clinical trials, and also facts on tick life cycles, environmental factors, and breed-specific vulnerabilities.
“The onyl way to minimize the damage of the doller tick is to follow the strategic control advocated by Embrapa,” Andreotti emphasized, beginning with the correct product application within the herd.
Alongside strategic control, Embrapa is developing additional technologies, including a tick ruler to assess breed sensitivity, the Lone Tick system – a non-acaricide approach based on larval survival times – and a tick vaccine slated for release in the coming years.
