02 Mar 2023

Acting North West District Agricultural Coordinator Dr Ramosamo Rancheke has appealed to farmers in the Okavango to familiarise themselves with control measures mainly dipping to deal with the current state of Bont tick infestation in the area.

Dr Rancheke told BOPA in an interview that farmers should take lead in managing the tick incursion by buying dips and administering them as required.

“Bont tick or be mobile tick as locals call it is easy to manage through dipping of cattle either by water-based dipping or oil-based dipping which remains effective for two weeks and four weeks respectively. Farmers should not panic and they should also avoid relocating cattle affected by the tick,” he said.

Dr Rancheke advised farmers in his area of jurisdiction to learn from those in other areas such as the Central District saying from way back such farmers have adopted control measures on how to manage it.

He said the Bont tick was first identified in the eastern side of the Okavango in around 2015 and was usually common during the rainy season.

On how the office was assisting farmers to remedy the infestation, he said, to the veterinary department was currently on the ground in the Beetsha extension area and other affected areas educating farmers by demonstrating how to manage the tick.

“The department has acquired about P100 000 worth of dipping sprays to demonstrate to farmers how to spray their cattle,” he said.

He said it was important for farmers to differentiate between Bont tick and dermatophilosis or Senkobo in the vernacular. 

He said Senkobo was a secondary infection due a bacteria and often caused more damage to the skin of an animal through wounds.

He said in most cases, as farmers delayed to control the tick, they ended up losing their animals to Senkobo due to the risks of infections.

For Senkobo, he said the veterinary department treated the affected cattle three times with the prescribed medication for the animals to recover.

Dr Rancheke said an estimation of 13 farmers in the Beetsha extension area had been affected by Senkobo while about 491 cattle had died in the same area from 2022 to 2023.

Dr Rancheke said 87 farmers in the Gumare/Tubu/Nokaneng area had been affected while 23 cattle and 45 goats have died in the same area from 2022 to 2023.

He said the other area affected in the North West district was Shorobe. Dr Rancheke said in 2022 about 4 759 cattle were dipped for Bont tick at the Beetsha extension of which 1 815 were treated for Senkobo.

In the Gumare/Tubu area, 1 724 were dipped for Bont tick last year of which 199 were treated for Senkobo.

He said 2 800 cattle were dipped for Bont Tick in the Beetsha extension this year of which 2 476 cattle were treated for Senkobo.

However, farmers in Beetsha appealed to government to employ a robust approach in the fight against Bont tick.

Farmers said they had been struggling with tick infestation since around 2015 when the first cases were identified at Jongwe cattle post near Beetsha.

“Before 2015 we have never heard of the tick in our area, we have heard about it on the Western side of the Okavango such as Gumare,” said Kgosi Bonang Karondu of Beetsha.

Kgosi Karondu said even though cattle were dipped for ticks it did not help much as the ticks appeared to exist in the vegetation.

He said their wish was for government to treat the Be-mobile tick as an outbreak.

“During the Tsetse Fly outbreak, government engaged even the use of aircrafts to spray the wilderness to eliminate the fly, the same method should be employed against the tick,” he said.

A farmer in Beetsha Mr Keboetswe Rebatang also chairperson of the recently formed Gweetsha farmers association in Beetsha said farmers in the Beetsha extension had lost a lot of cattle due to the disease.

Mr Rebatang said even though the veterinary department helped with spraying and treatment of Senkobo, it was not enough.

He suggested that the government adopted the Tsetse Fly method to eliminate the Bont tick.

Another Beetsha farmer Mr Itanga Itanga said his cattle were attacked by the Bont tick since 2016 and had since lost about 98 cattle with only 25 remaining despite following instructions to curb the disease as recommended.END