By: Gilda V. Bryant, Working Ranch Magazine, gv.bryant@gmail.com In the late 1800s, Texas Cattle Fever caused extensive cattle losses. To combat this deadly disease caused by ticks, the Bureau of Animal Industries, predecessor of the USDA (see Looking Back, September/October 2017 issue, p. 162), developed the first tick eradication program in 1906. When ticks were controlled across the southeastern U.S., the USDA and Texas Animal Health Commission (TAHC) established a permanent quarantine zone along the Texas – Mexico border in 1943. Tick eradication was the preferred control method. Two… Read More →