A pest from the past is back on St. Croix and it has put at least a temporary stop to the island’s export of Senepol cattle.
The African bont tick, thought to have eradicated in the 1970s, was discovered in the Carlton area last year, said Agriculture Commissioner Henry Schuster.
While ranchers who export the heat-tolerant Senepol, originally bred on St. Croix, regularly dip their stock to rid them of ticks, at least one head of cattle in a load destined for the mainland tested positive for a disease borne by the bont tick. The entire shipment of cattle is now quarantined in Florida with what is suspected to be heartwater disease.
Meanwhile, the U.S. Department of Agriculture has imposed an embargo on all livestock coming from the territory, Schuster said.
Heartwater, an infectious, noncontagious, tick-borne disease that affects the meat and milk production of cattle, sheep and goats, is transmitted by the tropical bont tick. The tick is widely distributed throughout Africa and several other islands in the Caribbean. The bont tick was introduced on Guadeloupe around 1830 on cattle imported from Senegal.
Schuster said the tick was thought to be eradicated from St. Croix, but "a few months ago here comes the tick again on one animal."
The V.I. Department of Agriculture and the USDA are now in the process of again ridding the island of the parasites. The eradication program entails treatment of all cattle on all infested premises every 14 days for at least 18 months, with follow-up checks for an additional six months.
"There is an embargo on shipping animals out until we can declare the Virgin Islands tick-free again," Schuster said.
The animals quarantined in Florida are undergoing further tests to confirm the presence of heartwater disease. "They automatically had to put those animals in quarantine," Schuster said. "We’re hoping the tests come back negative."
In 1977 the first planeload of Senepol cattle left for the U.S. mainland. More than 20 years later the Senepol has spread across the southern United States and South America.
Senepol were developed on St. Croix by Henry Nelthropp and his son Bromley in the early 1900's by crossing Red Poll cattle and N'Dama cattle. The Senepol breed combines the N'Dama characteristics of heat tolerance and insect resistance with the docility, good meat and high milk production of the Red Poll.
