Protecting Livestock Against Ticks in Pennsylvania

What ticks are likely to be found on livestock and horses?
While there are over 20 species of ticks in Pennsylvania only a few are pests of livestock and horses. Most of these ticks are threehost ticks meaning they bite a different animal during each of their three life stages larva nymph and adult. Usually these ticks choose progressively larger animals for each life stage. This means that adult ticks are the most common life stage found on livestock and horses. However occasionally nymphs will also be found. 

Blacklegged tick Ixodes scapularis
Also known as the deer tick this species is very common throughout Pennsylvania. Adults are active in the late fall and early spring.
Pathogens This species can transmit the pathogens that cause Lyme disease to susceptible animals including horses and Anaplasma phagocytophila the cause of equine granulocytic anaplasmosis. Cattle sheep and goats are not susceptible to Lyme disease infection and do not experience disease related to A. phagocytophila in the United States.
Lone star tick Amblyomma americanum
Lone star ticks are found in the southern and southeastern parts of Pennsylvania. Adults and nymphs are around in the spring and early summer. It can be found mostly in the coastal plain but is also found in the piedmont. The larvae called seed ticks prefer humans.
Pathogens Though this tick can carry pathogens that can cause disease in humans they are not considered a major vector for diseases of horses and livestock. 
American dog tick Dermacentor variabilis
American dog ticks are found throughout Pennsylvania and appear as adults in late spring and summer. While dogs are the preferred host of the adult but it has been recorded on numerous wild and domestic animals and humans.
Pathogens This tick may cause annoyance to domestic livestock but it is not a known vector of pathogens cause disease in livestock or

horses. However American dog tick bites can cause paralysis in livestock people and dogs.
Life cycle of the blacklegged tick a threehost tick occurs over two years. Eggs are laid in the spring and hatch in late summer as larvae. Larvae feed on small mammals like mice and chipmunks. Larvae overwinter and molt to nymphs in the spring. Nymphs feed on small mammals as well as birds cats and other mediumsized mammals. Nymphs molt into adults in the fall and feed on large mammals like deer but also cattle horses and goats. Adults can also be present in the spring.
Winter tick