Queensland’s Minister for Agriculture says that despite a number of recently publicised tick incursions in tick-free areas, Queensland’s cattle tick line is proving to be a robust line of defence against cattle ticks.
The Queensland cattle tick line.
In the past 12 months Beef Central has reported incursions in tick free areas near Wandoan and Chinchilla.
Minister for Agricultural Industry Development and Fisheries Mark Furner said with the exception of occasional detections of cattle tick along the edge of the free zone, livestock owners could rely on the tick line doing its job.
“The new tick line alignment was adopted in 2016 and it has served our valuable livestock industry well,” Mr Furner said.
“Any new infestations in the tick free zone are consistent with patterns from previous years, with the majority occurring less than 30 kilometres from the tick infested zone.
“This is great news. On average, 30-50 new infestations are reported each year and these are in the areas close to the tick line, particularly from Toowoomba to the South Burnett and the northern Darling Downs.”
Mr Furner said the number of incursions was not unexpected as the environment in these areas is very suitable for tick survival and propagation.
“There has only been one recent spike in numbers and that was in 2014-15 after a period of high rainfall,” Mr Furner said.
“I am also pleased to report that the vast majority of livestock owners and other stakeholders in the supply chain are doing the right thing and abiding by all of the tick line requirements.
“While we are conducting investigations into a number of matters, to date there has been no need for fines or prosecutions in relation to the current cattle tick line.”
Detections in the cattle tick free zone in recent years have been steady with the following recorded:
- 2017 – 31
- 2018 – 31
- 2019 – 27
Mr Furner said the current tickline operation and alignment had been under assessment by a Cattle Tick Line Review Working Group, with a final report due soon.
Source: Minister for Agricultural Industry Development and Fisheries
Mr Furner, your attention to this issue is expensive ignorance. Why should the people on the tick line who have been holding this steady for the last 30+ yrs be expected to continue to hold at their expense. The subsidy from your government is a mere drop in the ocean & they should not be expected to keep forking this money out. They still have to dip on & off their properties, there’s absolutely no advantage for them. Bio-security does not have adequate surveillance, as the cowboys are still being cowboys & with your current Bio-security laws no one can make them do a damn thing they don’t want to. It’s only us poor stupid honest ones that are cleaning up the outbreak, not because of you lot but for the benefit of having healthy clean cattle. Then you throw the guys on the line another bullet, tell them they need to APPLY to go back to the dirty side of the fence, since they can’t afford the upkeep……REALLY MR FURNER!!!! this is your solution. The on going cost is crippling, it’s bad enough that we’re all trying to do the best we can in one of the worst droughts in history. From first hand experience the outbreaks that I’m familiar with are from peoples neglect to do the right thing & infesting neighbour’s or purchasing dirty cattle unknowingly out of clean saleyards. It’s your surveillance that has let the cattle industry down or lack their off. Mr Furner it’s going to get a lot worse before it gets better. So I do hope you prepare your labor party buddies for the massacre at the next election, (what is it, 5 seats in qld that you hold!!!!)
Will someone tell Mr Furner there is a drought on. Ticks breed in moist wet conditions and the tick line can not hold up as anyone who has lived with ticks would know. When this drought breaks tick outbreaks will increase. I wonder if Mr Furner will apologise to those in the clean area that get ticks for the foolish and incompetent management by the state labour government or use some excuse to cover their failures
Robert Adams