Aug 14, 2026
Farming with ticks - Dave Chisholm
Growing up on a South Kaipara dairy farm during the 1960s and 1970s was where my first memory of ticks on animals comes from, in this case on the udders of dairy cows during milking. Little did I realise the damage they were inflicting at the time, or the enormous problem future deer farmers would face with regards to tick-borne animal welfare issues and associated costs.
Whilst the South Kaipara Heads did have a wild fallow herd, the fallow in their wild environment appeared to be unbothered and not affected by ticks. This all changed with the advent of farming them under sometimes stressful conditions, where suddenly the weak were attacked by ticks. At that point in time, we were unsure what was killing them.
When red deer came to the area, they proved to be the perfect host. It seemed as though all age groups were affected, with fawns dying covered with ticks, sucked dry in matter of days from birth, while stags were being velvetted covered in ticks (and subsequent freezing did not kill them). Drastic action by many farms included nuking their farm with off-label pesticides, which killed everything but didn’t stop the ticks from returning.
Bayticol and subsequent flumethrin pour-ons came along as a saviour, and we assumed the problem was solved. Unfortunately, the opposite happen. It quickly became apparent that the ticks adapted by adding more cycles, which led to what we face today, where ticks are a major problem, at the very least from August to April. While flumethrin pour on products still kills ticks, you need to use more of it. It should be seen as a part of your control program and not a solution to remove ticks from your farm.
Best flumethrin practice from the 1980s to today is pre fawning application of hinds, at least three applications from button drop on velvet stags, the use of tick tags on hinds pre fawning, the constant monitoring of the situation, all at a cost of money, time, and mental health.
We apply flumethrin on 3-5 animals at a time, depending on size, in our hydraulic crush, where we can stand over them and apply head, middle shoulder blades and middle hind quarters. Standing in the corner of your yards and firing liquid is nowhere near best practice. Not only are you not hitting where it works best, you are also wasting product and thus money.
At button drop, all our velvet stags are run through the crush over a period of time, which also allows for removal of any coronets still attached.
The breakthrough for me came with soil and herbage tests showing a lack of sulphur after winter. I usually applied urea to boost spring pasture growth from late August and into early spring. The best option for me was applying sulphate of ammonia (22% sulphur 18% nitrogen) in two applications, one as soon as possible given temperature and paddock conditions:
- The first at 75 kg per hectare
- The second at 6 to 8 weeks later at 50 kg per hectare.
This is only what I used, but I suggest more per hectare could be used - this is where trials need to be undertaken.
Given that at this point it was not unusual to see ticks climbing fence posts waiting for a host, or when walking through long grass or rushes, becoming a host was also a worry. The following year, I wasn’t sure but ticks seemed to be less of a problem, and the application of sulphate of ammonia continues each year as the pasture needs those inputs anyway. Although the tick population has decreased, there is still a residual population that could explode at any time if you drop your guard.
The result of this work has seen a reduction in the tick population across the farm. One area of the farm where we run hinds is 99% clean of ticks. We do not use flumethrin on those hinds, choosing instead to monitor closely. Cull hinds and stag fawns leaving area are treated with flumethrin as they move to where control is less effective.
We have pine grazing blocks that the other hind mob uses at times, though no stags go there as they will damage the pine crop. The pasture through and around the pines is ideal tick habitat. Essentially, each part of farm is treated differently. We use an integrated approach, and so far are achieving good results: fewer fawn deaths, clean velvet, clean animals to processors, and reduced use of Bayticol .
We are learning to live with them, but I am hoping for some action from DINZ on tick-centric trials that are needed to find out what we can apply to pasture that will break the ticks’ life cycles.
