Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
• Regularly check drains, ditches, and culverts to ensure they are clean of weeds and trash
so water will drain properly.
• Monitor your irrigation equipment and ditches regularly.
• Repair leaky pipes and outdoor faucets.
• If you have a swimming pool or wading pool, manage it responsibly.
• Change water in birdbaths and empty plant pot drip trays at least once a week.
• Keep grass mowed and shrubbery trimmed around barn and house so adult mosquitoes
will not find refuge there.
• Keep lights off as much as possible.
• Keep gutters clean and free of debris and leaves so they drain completely.
• Flush fresh water through any barn drains at least weekly.
• Clean out and refill watering troughs at least once a week.
• Contact your local Extension agent for other suggestions suitable to your particular loc-
ation, such as biological controls. For example, nontoxic bacterial larvicide granules and
donuts can be added to ponds or wetlands.
TICKS
Rodents are the reservoir of Lyme disease, and black-legged ticks are the vehicles that
transmit the disease to horses and humans. Currently, there is no approved vaccine against
equine Lyme disease. The chances of you or your horse becoming infected with Lyme dis-
ease in the Northeast and certain parts of the Midwest can be twenty-fives times that in
other parts of the United States. Keep horses clear of tick-infested areas as much as pos-
sible and carefully examine each horse at least once a day for presence of ticks, especially
during tick season in your area.
Remove nymphs (immature ticks, usually seen in spring) and adult ticks (usually seen
during summer and fall) immediately. Ticks can attach anywhere on a horse, but common
areas are on the chest, near the rectum, and along the base of the mane. Ticks should be
removed by grasping the tick as close to the horse's skin as possible using a tick remover
or fine tweezers and then pulling straight up with a slow, steady force. Do not pinch the
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