Theileria, As If Lyme Disease Wasn't Enough

I went for what started as a nice foggy morning ride on Otoelene yesterday.  

She was calm, the temperature was nice, the sun wasn't blazing. 

I hadn't ridden across the creek in a long time and the cattle were over there so I thought I would go check on them.  

Instead of being out grazing, they were all in and around a stagnate pond.

In case you can't tell, they are covered in tick.  We now have the Asian longhorned tick.  A couple of months ago, we had 3 sick cows, 2 died and 1 is still trying to recover.  When the first one got sick I thought it was rabies because of the unusual behavior.  She died in 4 days.  When the second one got sick and died a large animal vet I work with suggested testing for Theileria.  J roped the 3rd one (currently recovering) and I got a blood sample to send off.  It came back positive. 

It is a blood parasite that causes anemia and death in some cattle during times of stress (such as calving).  There really isn't much of a treatment or prevention other than trying to control the ticks which is pretty much impossible.  

Fortunately, humans are not at risk of the disease.  On my way back to the creek from checking the cattle, Otoelene became so agitated that I had to get off before she exploded.  I tied to get a picture of all of the ticks swarming her but hanging on to her was like hanging onto a kite.  But this is what my legs looked like after just a few steps. 

When I got back to the barn, I sprayed myself with fly spray, washed and sprayed Otoelene, then came to the house to take a shower and wash my clothes.  You can see the whelps that broke out on Otoelene's chest. I don't think I will be riding over there again for awhile.  I really hate ticks.