Ticks proved a problem for cattle, sheep (and farmers) back in the day. Photo / Tracey Robinson
Kem Ormond takes a look at the world of farming back in the day. In this week’s Pastures Past, she’s found newspaper articles tackling the topic of ticks.
The first confirmed tick specimen was recorded in 1910 near Kaitaia.
However, government reports in 1919 suggested ticks had been present in Northland for at least 25 years.
This means they were likely established by the 1890s.
Ticks were a common pest to both sheep and cattle in the early 1900s and before.
In 1894, the New Zealand Mail quoted an Australian expert who said, “It has been said that ‘one hundred ticks will draw from a ewe the nourishment that would rear a lamb.’”
Before chemical dips became common (early 1900s), farmers relied on burning rushes, topping long grass, and improving drainage to reduce humid habitats where ticks thrived.
Then there was the laborious job of picking off the ticks and using kerosene or spirits on affected areas.
Below is a selection of historical stories from the New Zealand Mail, the Poverty Bay Herald and the Northern Advocate.
New Zealand Mail, March 16, 1894
The injurious effects of ticks on sheep are not always sufficiently realised by sheep owners.
Since the practice of regular dipping has become more general, sheep do not suffer so much from these external parasites.
But there are still careless owners who regard ticks with far too little sense of the serious evil they are to the health of the flock, and consequently to the pocket of the farmers who do not dip as religiously as they should.
An Australian expert in an article on ticks on sheep says: — “It has been said that ‘one hundred ticks will draw from a ewe the nourishment that would rear a lamb.’
Be this as it may, the quantity of blood these parasites will absorb is remarkable, causing a rapid loss of condition.
The loss of condition is one of the primary effects of ticks, and the poorer the sheep becomes, the more rapidly the ticks appear to increase.
Sheep failing in condition cannot grow a healthy fleece, therefore, the effects of the ticks are to take from the sheep the nourishment that should go to the wool to promote a healthy fleece; it is therefore much lighter than it otherwise would be.
Another effect is the irritation set up by the parasites’ biting, preventing the sheep from feeding quietly in comfort, and keeping them in a continual state of irritation and uneasiness.
This also materially reduces the growth of the wool and still further reduces the condition of the sheep, and in addition, they are continually rubbing, plucking, and scratching their fleece, giving it a broken, ragged, unsightly appearance.
From this it may be seen how much injury is done to the sheep owner by the ticks themselves, viz., loss in value of the wool, which has generally a broken, ragged appearance, more or less unsound, badly grown, and harsh to feel.
Ticks’ eggs
“With the exception of scab the greatest injury done by external parasites of sheep is by means of the eggs of ticks.
Ticks’ eggs are not in a true sense eggs, but rather casings of living young.
The young are fully formed in the casings before being deposited by the parent in the wool.
For this reason, they are of unusual interest.
These eggs, as I will call them, are deposited in the fleece near the body of the sheep for warmth, and with them a sticky brown mucous by which they are fastened to the fibres of the wool.
This fluid is a sort of dye and stains the wool.
The stains, which are called “tick marks” or “tick stains” are a very serious detriment to the wool, as they cannot be removed by the ordinary process of scouring, but require a special process of cleaning.
To allow for this the manufacturer gives a lower price for the wool, often a reduction of 1d to 2d per lb in consequence.”
Poverty Bay Herald, November 12, 1932
Cattle ticks have made their reappearance on Coast properties recently, but so far no outbreaks have been reported on previously clean country.
The Gisborne flats have not had a recurrence of the ticks this season.
A few ticks were found on properties at Puha, Repongaere and Bushmere last summer, but all possible precautions were taken to detect any others should they make their appearance.
Since the first discovery in each case, however, no further ticks were reported.
Northern Advocate, October 4, 1938
Ivy Jenkins, of Matapouri, a keen calf club member, noticed three different kinds of ticks on one of her father’s cows.
She writes: “One is a little wee brown one; one the ordinary big black one and the third is a hard bluey-grey one about half the size of the ordinary big one. Could you please let me know in the “Young Northlander,” what kind of tick the third one is?”
The three ticks described are really different stages of the same species.
Tick eggs are deposited on the ground and later hatch out, giving rise to “seed ticks,” which climb onto coarse grass, brushwood, etc., and from there become attached to animals as opportunity offers.
These seed ticks undergo moults or changes and later become nymphs, gradually growing into adult ticks.
- Source: Papers Past