Efficacy of amitraz acaricide footbaths against cattle and goat tick infestations on sites in Highveld and Lowveld regions of Zimbabwe.

Ticks cause significant economic losses in the Zimbabwean livestock sector. Conventional control methods such as plunge dipping or hand spraying are costly, water-intensive, and often impractical, particularly during dry seasons. This study evaluated the efficacy of amitraz acaricide footbaths in reducing tick infestations on cattle and goat across three sites in the Highveld and Lowveld regions of Zimbabwe between February and October 2023. Tick infestation levels were compared between livestock managed using conventional tick control methods (plunge dipping complemented by tick grease application in Lowveld, or complete body hand spraying in the highveld) and livestock managed using footbathing complemented by tick grease application. A total of 21,500 ticks representing eight species were collected on 48 cattle and 48 goats. The effects of treatment and season on tick infestation were tested using zero-inflated negative binomial regression models, which accounted for excess zeros and overdispersion in tick count data. In the Lowveld, footbaths significantly reduced cattle tick infestation by the 3 most abundant tick species: