Livestock Veterinary Entomology website front page.
Dr. Sonja Swiger
Extension Entomologist Launches Website for Livestock Owners and Ranchers
Livestock owners and ranchers have a new tool to help them to keep up to date with issues of pest management as Texas AgriLife Extension Entomology launches a new website targeted to livestock and veterinary entomology topics.
The site, livestockvetento.tamu.edu, helps livestock owners by giving them a place to search for resources about livestock and veterinary pests affecting their livestock.
Texas AgriLife Extension Entomologist Dr. Sonja Swiger said the site has up-to-date information on insects and other ectoparasites affecting livestock, including how to control and manage these pests. Swiger developed the site to give up-to-date information to ranchers and livestock owners.
Swiger wanted to have a centralized, easily accessible location for giving basic information to livestock owners and veterinarians.
“My intention was to bring all the basic information about commonly asked livestock and veterinary pests together in one location that was backed by an academic institution, and also to provide up-to-date pesticide and management options,” she said.
These pests, according to Swiger, are a major contributor to stress or disease, which can reduce productivity in domestic livestock.
The site features “fact sheet” pages on various insect and other pests that can affect livestock. The fact sheets include a photo, description of the individual pest, and what diseases the pest transmits, and how to manage the pest.
Another section of the site features current information on the most commonly used pesticides for use on livestock and resources for learning more about ear tags fly traps, liquids and sprays or granules. In the future, Swiger will add a feature to where visitors can search either by application method or by pest.
“With the constant changes to pesticide products and cancellations of chemicals, it is hard to keep up,” she said. “The site assists clientele with this so that they can be aware of what is happening in the industry. Many times the issues at hand do not change for livestock/veterinary entomology but my experience has shown me that many are not aware of all the issues or concerns. The site will help further inform veteran farmers on pest insects as well as give then any new information that they might have missed”
The site also includes additional links to other learning resources from the Department of Entomology, the Insects and the City site from Dr. Mike Merchant, as well as other useful information about entomology and pest management topics.
Swiger’s latest newsletters and a section for all informational presentations and publications for various topics on fire ant control, ear tags for cattle, pantry and fabric pests in home, as well as integrated pest management. Ranch and livestock owners can even ask questions and upload images of pests in question to the site via a form in the Contact Us section.
Swiger wanted to target a fairly broad audience that ranges from cattle producers to students researching a topic for a paper to homeowners looking for information about a certain pest.
“The site is written so all can understand and even provides an outlet for people to contact me for more information,” she said. “I feel that the website will be extremely helpful to livestock and ranch owners.”
The website can be reached at http://livestockvetento.tamu.edu/ .