#@%& Ticks!!

[BeastieSlave]

I know there are tons of threads on ticks, but I’m on my Nook and it’s hard to go back & search…

I’m already having tick trouble at the new place and it’s tough on all of us. The only thing I’ve found that really helps is ivermectin. I had a mare who had a very bad neuro reaction to a topical so I wn’t do that again.

I have a specific worming schedule and am not a fan of giving ivermectin every month or so, but I’m desperate and will do what it takes this spring/summer. My question is, can anyone tell me if other wormers will also be effective against ticks? Heck, I’d be all over daily wormer if it worked as daily ticker!!

[LauraKY]

No dewormers are effective for ticks. Fly spray, Frontline spray, permethrin along with pasture management to reduce the tick population.

Where did you ever get the idea that dewormers did anything to reduce ticks?

[SMF11]

I would only add that some fly sprays contain permethrin, and these have been effective for me in keeping ticks at bay. Spray on Frontline has worked as well (spray on legs and wherever ticks like to attach).

[LauraKY]

[QUOTE=SMF11;6889299]
I would only add that some fly sprays contain permethrin, and these have been effective for me in keeping ticks at bay. Spray on Frontline has worked as well (spray on legs and wherever ticks like to attach).[/QUOTE]

Don’t forget the bottom 1/3 of the tail.

[Texarkana]

Using OFF Deep Woods on legs/tail sometimes helps too!

[BeastieSlave]

[QUOTE=LauraKY;6889223]
No dewormers are effective for ticks…

Where did you ever get the idea that dewormers did anything to reduce ticks?[/QUOTE]

That would be from an equine vet, and I found the ivermectin he recommended to be more effective than fly sprays for a period of time.

[ldaziens]

Ivermectin & ticks
“However, at the usual therapeutic dose, ivermectin products are ineffective against tapeworms and flukes, fleas, mosquitoes, horse and deer flies and stable flies and several other flying insects. Cattle horn flies are only controlled by pour-on formulations. Cattle ticks (Boophilus spp) are only sufficiently controlled by pour-ons and high concentration (≥ 3.15%) injectables, not by the classic 1% injectables, drenches or feed additives. Other ticks (e.g. Amblyomma spp, Hyalomma spp Dermacentor spp, Ixodes spp, Rhipicephalus spp) are not controlled at all by ivermectin products.”
from
http://parasitipedia.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2449&Itemid=2716

I use Equi-Spot & Mosquito Halt for Mosquitoes & Gnats, and I have not had any ticks on my horses. The Equi-Spot lasts a week (not the 2 weeks claimed).

Mosquito Halt was recommended as the best fly spray by Horse Journal, and it works & lasts AND is effective against ticks
http://www.smartpakequine.com/mosquito-halt-1540p.aspx

Mosquito Halt lasts a lot longer than Deep Woods Off.

[yellowbritches]

I feed a little bit of garlic to my two horses (yeah, yeah, I’ve heard all the arguments about it…), and I have to say, repelling ticks is one of its best (and most noticeable) benefits. I feed it year round (it doesn’t get cold enough here to kill them all over the winter). While others in my barn are often pulling ticks off of tail bones and other typical tick spots on their horses, I almost never pull ticks off of my two (occasionally, I will rinse a couple that haven’t dug in yet off of my working horse after we’ve been hacking or doing gallops in tall grass).

Just food for thought. I wouldn’t feed it if I had a horse prone to anemia, but for healthy horses, a little bit goes along way in the tick department.

[FitToBeTied]

We do garlic as well. It has worked well for the geldings but was not very effective for the mares. I take garlic for myself and I never have ticks but my wife battles them.

[Bastile]

how much garlic do you feed? what are the draw backs?

thanks!

[fatappy]

I second the frontline spray.

I body clipped my mare and clipped off a dozen ticks.

[yellowbritches]

It’s probably a little less than a tablespoon, once a day. I have fed it in multiple forms (bulk garlic granules that a restaurant owning boarder would get from the supply company, and all manners of equine specific supplements). I typically start new horses on just a pinch or two until they get used to the strong smell, and gradually build up. In 8 or 9 years of feeding it to many, many horses, I’ve had exactly one say no thank you.

Some people say it makes the horses stink (my horses smell yummy and horse like. Not like garlic…unless you catch them right after breakfast).

There have been some “studies” that show wild onions (a relative to garlic) fed in massive quantities (like, lbs) can cause heinz body anemia in some horses. If you do a search here or just use google, you’ll find many, many debates about those studies. I would not feed garlic to a horse that was anemic, to be safe, but I still think horses who were made ill by being fed POUNDS of wild onions vs horses getting fed a tablespoon of garlic a day are two completely different things.

[ldaziens]

Garlic - another take on it
http://feedxl.com/newsletters/26-garlic.html

I read somewhere that the freeze dried has more of the bad stuff in it; and that take was that IF you were going to feed garlic, you should feed a small amount of fresh, natural garlic.

[Derby_Lyn_Farms]

Get some free range chickens around the farm. They have done wonders for ticks here. Use to go out to the car and have a few ticks on me. Now I walk the pastures and only had 2 ticks on me total last year. Here in MI we don’t have as big of a problem with ticks as you guys further south do. We are only at 30 degrees today, so that is probably why.

[rmh_rider]

Keep things mowed well in the pastures.

On my mare the tick bites get very very itchy and raised. First I wash the spot well with antibacterial soap. Dab it with witch hazel, neosporan (sp) with the pain relief stuff in it, then I put cortisone on the bite spots 2-3 times a day. Amazing the topical cortisone helps so much.

I do keep her legs sprayed well. I check for ticks each day, sometimes 2 times a day.

I think keeping the pasture mowed low, really helps.

[BeastieSlave]

I have found that a double dose of ivermectin helps.

There is no grass at the new place to keep mowed (not now anyway, they aren’t in the summer pasture yet) and I don’t think chickens would be an option as the neighbor’s mean little dogs spend more time than I’d like over here.

After the experience I had with my poor mare, I just don’t want to try any sort of spot treatment again.

I’m caring for 3-4 horses basically by myself and not looking forward to the daily spray & tick search. Thanks for the garlic information. I’ll check it out and.

Also wanted to add that I have NEVER had problem with ticks until I moved the gang to middle GA. I can probably count on my finger the number of tcks I pulled off over the years at the old place. Here there have been weeks where I don’t have enough fingers & toes.

[morganpony86]

It may be a coincidence, but I never had a problem with ticks until I moved to a new barn a couple years back. My horse was covered in them. I started dousing him in my favorite natural fly spray, Flicks, and never saw another tick again.

[LauraKY]

Where are the ticks coming from? Is the paddock dirt then? Any weeds? Close to a tree line or woodland edge?

[leahandpie]

Ultrashield works against ticks!

[ldaziens]

[QUOTE=BeastieSlave;6892039]
I have found that a double dose of ivermectin helps.

There is no grass at the new place to keep mowed (not now anyway, they aren’t in the summer pasture yet) and I don’t think chickens would be an option as the neighbor’s mean little dogs spend more time than I’d like over here.

After the experience I had with my poor mare, I just don’t want to try any sort of spot treatment again.

I’m caring for 3-4 horses basically by myself and not looking forward to the daily spray & tick search. Thanks for the garlic information. I’ll check it out and.

Also wanted to add that I have NEVER had problem with ticks until I moved the gang to middle GA. I can probably count on my finger the number of tcks I pulled off over the years at the old place. Here there have been weeks where I don’t have enough fingers & toes.[/QUOTE]

Our idiot neighbors’ little dogs were terrible at killing my young chickens. Now, I have livestock guardian dogs - though they were tempted by the chickens and ducks when they were pups. The geese & turkeys were left alone and did not take any nonsense from any dogs. Unfortunately, we rehomed our birds last summer as we were supposed to be moving across the country.

Anyway, the heritage turkeys were very good foragers and would patrol the entire 10 acres whereas the chickens never really explored very far from the barn.

I have always heard that guineas are THE tick & snake killers. I did not have guineas because we have neighbors, and I understood that they could be quite loud. That might be an option for you if you get a decent sized flock of them and can protect them until they are old enough to fly out of danger???