Cattle tick control

Cattle tick is a serious pest in the Northern Territory (NT). It affects cattle, buffalo, horses, mules, donkeys, sheep, goats, camels, deer, llamas and alpacas.

It can reduce your livestock production and also spread tick fever, which causes sickness and death in affected animals.

Read the Agnote cattle ticks PDF (258.5 KB).

Controlling the spread of cattle tick

The NT has a control program which aims to contain ticks to within specific zones, and lower the risk of spreading to areas which aren't yet infected.

It includes measures against the spread of Parkhurst cattle tick, which is a strain resistant to commonly-used chemical treatments.

Interstate and NT stock movements are controlled to limit the risk of ticks spreading.

NT cattle tick areas

Get the map of NT cattle tick areas PDF (1.1 MB).

Parkhurst cattle tick

The Parkhurst cattle tick is resistant to certain chemical products such as Bayticol, Barricade S, Blockade S and Tixafly.

It was first detected on cattle stations in the Darwin region in the late 1990s and has now spread to many properties in the area.

For more information read the acaricide resistant cattle tick fact sheet.

Acaricide resistant cattle tick fact sheet PDF (175.2 KB)
Acaricide resistant cattle tick fact sheet DOCX (896.9 KB)

In 2011 a Parkhurst Infected Zone was introduced to contain the Parkhurst cattle tick from Darwin to Pine Creek and east to the boundary of Kakadu National Park.

If you want to move stock out of this zone you must have them inspected and treated. Horses can be moved from the zone to the Cattle Tick Infected Zone without being inspected or treated.

Controls on stock movement

There are different levels of control on stock movement depending on which zone cattle are leaving and where they are going.

The following stock are affected by these controls:

• cattle
• buffalo
• bison
• banteng
• horses
• sheep
• goats
• camels
• deer
• llamas
• alpacas.

For more information on moving livestock, read the livestock movement conditions relating to cattle tick fact sheet.

Livestock movement conditions relating to cattle tick PDF (370.1 KB)
Livestock movement conditions relating to cattle tick DOCX (292.8 KB)

Treatment

Read about how to treat for cattle ticks below.

Cattle dips

If you manage them correctly, plunge dips are the most efficient method of treating cattle for tick. Read the Agnote management of a plunge cattle dip PDF (54.6 KB).

Chemicals to use

To find out what chemicals can be used to control cattle ticks get the acaricide activity information for cattle table PDF (23.8 KB).

To find out how long you have to wait between treating cattle for ticks and sending them for export slaughter get the withholding periods and export slaughter intervals for cattle table PDF (25.0 KB).

Contacts

For more information or to organise a cattle tick inspection or treatment, contact your local livestock biosecurity officer.

There are livestock biosecurity officers in Darwin, Katherine and Tennant Creek.