Dealing with ticks.

3Peas · #1 05/17/13, 10:51 AM

How is everyone dealing with ticks on their goats? I am finding this to be a horrible tick season already.

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harvestmoonfarm · #2 05/17/13, 11:16 AM

My goat mentor recommends Python powder from TSC. I haven't had to use it yet, but am planning to buy some this weekend.

SkeeterBlue · #3 05/17/13, 12:59 PM

It is horrible all over. Guineas, just guineas.

Donna1982 · #4 05/17/13, 01:02 PM

I pull them off and kill them. I want to get some Guineas but everyone tells me they sit on top of cars and Eric would kill them if he seen that. So I have yet to do so. I have noticed my goats have a horrible reaction to tick bites. I feel horrible for them.

Squeaky McMurdo · #5 05/17/13, 01:25 PM

I wonder if one of those flea and tick collars would help?

farmerstac · #6 05/17/13, 02:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Donna1982

I pull them off and kill them. I want to get some Guineas but everyone tells me they sit on top of cars and Eric would kill them if he seen that. So I have yet to do so. I have noticed my goats have a horrible reaction to tick bites. I feel horrible for them.

I have guineas that I raised with a couple of chicks. They think they are chickens. Run all over but don't get on my truck. They are murder on ticks and snakes.

BethW · #7 05/17/13, 06:44 PM

For the last 6 years, I've been using Permectrin II mixed to the recommended ratio and sprayed down their toplines. It seems to work very well.

**mygoat** · #8 05/17/13, 07:15 PM

I find it so odd that people have tick problems with their goats. I think I have had to pull 2 off of goats in all the years I've been raising goats. I've found them crawling on them here and there, but 2 attached ticks... that's it.

Maybe it's the fact that we have had non rotational/overgrazed pastures, for the most part...

Clovers_Clan · #9 05/17/13, 08:01 PM

I'm wondering about the ticks, too. I see them crawling on the goats but never seem to stick. There are certainly plenty latching on to us. I'm so thankful they're not a problem but very curious why they are such a problem for others. Different species of tick, different diet, lack or abundance of preferred host. Just very puzzling.

Growing up in Colorado, we experienced one exceptionally long, cold, wet winter. Followed by a plague of ticks in the spring, so bad they were killing already weakened range cattle. Seriously, that bad!

I don't know, Georgia never gets cold so the ticks aren't as ravenous?

Backfourty,MI. · #10 05/18/13, 07:39 PM

I've never had a problem with Ticks on the goats or even our dogs here but we do have Guinnea's & really Love them.

Donna, ours have never been on our vehicles in over 2 years since we've got them.

o&itw · #11 05/19/13, 07:55 AM

My experience with guineas is not one of them roosting on cars. Actually, our experience is that, if you don't have chickens also, they will tend not to stay around the barn and roost in trees away from the house ( where they tend to be easy prey for big horned owls)

Raising them with chickens tends to make them less wild and act more like chickens. Raised by themselves then tend to roam all over, you may find them a mile away at some neighbors.

The noise they make when anything strange is about is enough to dive one crazy sometimes. Of course, from what I hear from you who raise Nubians, maybe you are already used to a lot of noise anyway.

Alice In TX/MO · #12 05/19/13, 09:12 AM

Rarely have ticks on most of the goats. One MiniMancha, however, got a bunch around her eyes. ONE time. Strange.

I use Cylence on the goats anyway.

Donna1982 · #13 05/19/13, 01:19 PM

Hmm... now I am going to have to hunt down some darn chickens and guinea. The ticks are horrible here I was sitting in the chair last night after my shower and felt two crawling on me. I guess the dogs bring them in. I am all the time picking ticks off everyone.

Pony · #14 05/19/13, 01:48 PM

This is a really ticky year on the ridge. The worst is on the goats' ears, right in front where the ear attaches.

I've been using Pet Guard Gel today. We'll see...

LomahAcres · #15 05/19/13, 06:11 PM

I only have problems with ticks when the animals are kept in trees. I mixed my own in a spray bottle. I think it was a 20 or 32 oz bottle here is what I put in it -

1/2 water
1/2 apple cider vinegar
2 TBS tea tree oil
1-2 tsp citronella
2 tsp peppermint

I'd spray it on a few times a day at first until it got worked into their coat well, then once a day for a few weeks - after that I could keep it maintained with 2-3 times a week spraying. Repels ticks, mosquitoes and flies.

Pony · #16 05/19/13, 06:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by LomahAcres

I only have problems with ticks when the animals are kept in trees. I mixed my own in a spray bottle. I think it was a 20 or 32 oz bottle here is what I put in it -

1/2 water
1/2 apple cider vinegar
2 TBS tea tree oil
1-2 tsp citronella
2 tsp peppermint

I'd spray it on a few times a day at first until it got worked into their coat well, then once a day for a few weeks - after that I could keep it maintained with 2-3 times a week spraying. Repels ticks, mosquitoes and flies.

Fantastic! The only thing I don't have here is citronella, but I can pick that up in town this week.

Thanks.