ON FARM NORTHERN CATTLE ANIMAL HEALTHZ Tick bio‑control to tackle a costly problem Anon‑chemical, long‑term “Our early tests showed the product was treatment for ticks and buffalo too tacky and needed to be massaged fly is now under development. into the hide, which wasn’t ideal for ease of Estimated to cost about $260 million a application to a large herd, but the massage certainly improved the animal’s temperament. year in lost production and treatment That hiccup was easily remedied for our ‘Gen strategies (that’s $60.47 for every beast), II’ product due for evaluation on animals at tick and buffalo fly are among the most Rockhampton next month,” Ern said. economically damaging parasites for beef enterprises. In ‘Gen II’, the balance of probiotic microbes If left unchecked, they can significantly was also fine‑tuned. reduce cattle weight gain, conception rates, “Of the five microbes we considered in Gen I, we milk production, hide values and, in severe replaced three to bolster their activity against cases, even cause death. ticks and flies, and enhanced ‘manufacture However, a project – funded by the and reduce’ costs to create Gen II,” Ern said. Cooperative Research Centre for Developing “We want to develop a product that’s Northern Australia and driven by research extremely cheap compared to chemicals.” partners MLA, Microbial Screening Technologies and Macquarie University While the product is designed for northern – is investigating a probiotic solution to Australia, Ern said the probiotic balance of the problem. microbes may need to be ‘regionalised’ to increase the backliner’s effectiveness across Microbial Screening Technologies’ Dr Ern the diverse range of the northern cattle Lacey is leading a team of scientists who industry’s climate and geography. have isolated helpful microbes that, when applied as a backliner, could colonise the “By the end of three years, we expect to hair coat, prevent eggs from hatching, and be fine‑tuning a ‘Gen III’ product through attack ticks and flies at various stages of theiron‑farm trials,” he said. life cycles. “The objective is to create a cheap, biological, Dr Ern Lacey whole‑of‑life treatment,” Ern said. E: elacey@microbialscreening.com “Our minimum benchmark is to achieve 70% mla.com.au/ticks protection from ticks for six months, but we’re dpi.nsw.gov.au and search hoping for so much more.” ‘buffalo flies control’ So far, the research team has developed This research was conducted with approval a ‘Gen I’ product which comprises from the Macquarie University Animal five microbes. Ethics Committee. ■ 34