Tick Control Help!!

[Scoutranger]

i purchased my first home on 3 acres with a small barn. I plan to bring my two horses home after I set up fencing… my problem is the infestation of ticks!!! I live in the North East so ticks are always a problem… however, I’ve never seen them this bad. I go outside and get 10+! I would like any advice, scientific research, opinions, etc. that will help me make my decision…

1. Chickens / Guinea Hens
2. Equi-Spot topical horse gel
3. Yard and pasture sprayed with essential oils by a professional (peppermint, geranium, wintergreen, rosemary) once a month
4. Yard and pasture sprayed with bifenthrin by a professional- possibly once a month?

What option or options are the best? If I go the spray route how long should I wait before putting horses on it to graze?

[Scoutranger]

Open to any feed through things as well!!

[JB]

Use topicals on the horses. Guineas may become your neighbor’s guineas Chickens can do a good job, but guineas are better. You will need to predator-proof either of them though.

It would be REALLY expensive to spray even 3 acres with an essential oil mix. I wouldn’t bother. Keep the pastures mowed (5-6"), fence off access to wooded areas if there are any, use Equi-Spot or Frontline, or there are some pymethrin-based sprays you can use as well.

For you, an EO mix is a good option, sprayed on shoes and lower legs before you go outside.

The more chemicals you use on pasture/grass, the more you are going to harm beneficial insects, so stay away from using those unless absolutely necessary.

[Simkie]

I moved the horses to CT in Dec and had two cases of anaplasmosis by… February or so? Welcome to tick-ville!

I put the horses on garlic. I also trimmed whiskers and fetlocks, bangs tails, and pulled manes.

Since then? Not a single tick, on any of them. I really didn’t expect SUCH a drastic difference, but I’ll take it! I do the garlic from Springtime…it’s not terribly expensive, and no one had a problem eating it.

[TwoTrickPony]

@Simkie

I moved the horses to CT in Dec and had two cases of anaplasmosis by… February or so? Welcome to tick-ville!

I put the horses on garlic. I also trimmed whiskers and fetlocks, bangs tails, and pulled manes.

Since then? Not a single tick, on any of them. I really didn’t expect SUCH a drastic difference, but I’ll take it! I do the garlic from Springtime…it’s not terribly expensive, and no one had a problem eating it.

How are you feeding garlic? Raw? Powdered? How much?

[Simkie]

@TwoTrickPony

How are you feeding garlic? Raw? Powdered? How much?

https://www.springtimeinc.com/product/bug-off-garlic-horses/all-natural-horse-supplements

One scoop per horse per day.

[Dutchmare433]

I use daily fly spray with permethrin in addition to Frontline. I would hesitate to spray anything…you risk toxicity to good bugs, horses, and whatever other wildlife is there. If you were to find essential oils concentrated enough/of the stregth/grade to kill ticks, you’d be spending a lot of $$$. You’d also probably end up killing a lot of other plants and animals.

[HunterMarc]

If I had my own place, I would get chickens and guinea hens. They eat them! Currently I use EquiSpot and apply every 2 weeks or so. Since I have been using that, I have not seen a tick in those two weeks. Try a small spot first, one of my horses broke out in hives and my current guy gets annoyed when i put it on but no hives or anything. Just have to watch for an allergic reaction to get it off. Otherwise I use TriTech 14 every other day spraying the head, legs and tail really well. I also use a supplement by SmartPak called BugOff. This doesn’t mention anything about ticks though.

[melula]

I second the garlic. We feed about a tablespoon a day of granulated garlic (powdered is too fine and lofts when feed is dropped. I don’t want them to breath it).
When we started garlic, I had a couple of fat pasture horses that didn’t get any concentrates so they didn’t get any garlic. There was a dramatic difference in the two no-garlic horses even with a topical bio-spot product. They now get a handful of pellets as a vehicle for the garlic.