" The rough native cattle do not
suffer badly from this fever, but any newly imported fine stock from the
south generally succumb to it.
Time after time wealthy men who realized the menace this pest was to the
north have attempted to fight it, but their efforts have not been
successful. Often their loss has been immense, sometimes as many as 95%
of the total animals brought into the neighbourhood from the Province of
Buenos Aires have died.
Undoubtedly these constant failures helped to give the northern district
a bad name, but the experiments with the animals should have been
carried on by means of acclimatisation. Animals for the north should be
carefully handled, and with constant vigilance, adapted to their
surroundings. These are the principles on which the Santa Fe Land
Company have been working, and they confidently predict that before long
they will be selling pedigree bulls with tick on them. When this is an
accomplished fact, another great barrier to the progress of the north
will have been broken down.
The cattle tick has two phases in its life.
[Illustration: _Cattle leaving Dip._]
After establishing itself on the animal, the tick becomes a blood
sucker, and at certain seasons animals running wild over unbroken camps,
become literally covered with these bichos; consequently the cattle fall
back in condition, and the mortality amongst them mounts up to an
appallingly large percentage.
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