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Old 10-04-2008, 03:26 PM
 
2 posts, read 7,420 times
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My wife and I are considering relocating to SW Virginia from Vermont. We have horses and dogs, and currently have a very minor tick issue where we live now. Since we would be purchasing acreage in VA and spending a great deal of our time outside, we are wondering how bad the tick situation is in the areas south of Rocky Mount? Of particular concern is our horses. Would we be talking about having an occasional tick on us or our animals, or is it more of a daily issue to check people and animals? We recently heard stories of some folks who brought their horses on a trip somewhere in TN, and told of a MAJOR problem with ticks all over them and thier horses everyday. I have read the current posts on this topic, so I know they will be somewhat worse than in VT, but just trying to find out if it is a show stopper for us or not with regard to moving to VA. Any insight is greatly appreciated!
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Old 10-04-2008, 05:00 PM
 
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Well, I'm not sure this information is exactly what you are seeking, but I will share my experience. We took our dog walking on the Dismal Swamp Trail and I came home with a tick and our dog had about five. We used no protection, no hats, no nothing! No AVON Bug Guard, even though I had tons at my disposal. lol. And we didn't even think to check our clothes when we were done walking. Very dumb, I know! It was a last minute daytrip, not planned out. Any how...I took the dog to the vet and she told me disease carrying ticks are rare in this area. This was in Chesapeake. Hope it works out for you and the horses!
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Old 10-05-2008, 02:09 AM
 
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Generally speaking, the further south you come in the Appalachians the worse the ticks get. Basically the winters don't get as cold and more are able to survive into the next year. Especially in more rural areas like SW Virginia that has more farms and wildlife as opposed to more concrete and buildings as you would see in cities and more populated areas. If you find yourself in an area that is especially bad for ticks you should check for them often, but there's really no way to know how often because it depends on your specific property. High grass and wooded areas are where you find the most ticks. They basically climb to the top of the tallest piece of grass they can find, and wait for an animal, or human, to pass by and attach. There are also a number of tick repellants, similar in theory to a flea and tick collar for dogs, powders, sprays, drops, etc. available for all animals. Most of these various products are very effective, though not 100% effective.

With all that said, you're letting the dangers of ticks really get into your head if you're willing to move hundreds of miles, but consider ticks to be a show stopper. Most likely, moving further south just means that you should take a few more precautions in monitoring, preventing, and removing ticks from your pets.
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Old 10-06-2008, 04:48 AM
 
Location: Apex, NC
1,341 posts, read 6,189,571 times
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Greetings SmorClby!

We moved from Orwell, Vermont to Blacksburg in 2004 and then bought a horse farm in Boones Mill in 2005. Boones Mill is just north of Rocky Mount. Small world!

Ticks are more prevalent in SW Virginia than they are in Vermont, but it's not a serious problem. We choose to use Equispot and it's a 100% effective solution in our experience. Trevor92 points out an important factor and that is grass/brush height. As in Vermont, if you keep your pastures mowed below 12" then that will help suppress ticks.

Depending on where you're coming from Vermont, you'll actually find the insect situation more horse-friendly down here. First of all, Vermont tends to be swampier and when there aren't swamps nearby there are vernal pools or lakes to take their place Everywhere I lived in Vermont, the mosquitoes were brutal. Here, I may go days without seeing a single mosquito. We've got flies down here but not nearly as many of the biting variety than in Vermont. In Vermont, our horses were plagued by biting black flies and green heads.

Overall, this area is much more horse friendly. Your dormant season is up to three months shorter, so you'll be less dependent on hay. Hay is more expensive down here, but overall, you're using less of it, so the actual expense will be lower. And there is no significant frost here, so while pastures stay firm during the winter, they're not rock hard and they're never turned into stippled ice rinks. As for the humans the cost of living is easily 20% lower in this region.

We've got 130 acres and are downsizing to 100 with the sale of two 15 acre tracts, one of which includes about 5 acres of pasture in addition to a pretty gorgeous view of the pasture from a wooded gnoll. If you visit my blog (Sean’s Horse Farm and Family Blog) you'll find more information about it. I'm hoping to find horse-owners for the tract that includes pasture, since we're horse people as well. We have equestrian facilities on our farm (indoor arena, outdoor ring, trails, etc) that are open to our neighbors for a small fee. We're about 15 minutes from Rocky Mount, and 20-25 minutes to Roanoke. Here is a view from the land that's for sale:

http://www.pecorfamily.com/images/2008/09/cahas-20view.jpg (broken link)

No matter where you choose to live, if you're touring this area, make sure you call us and stop by! Our contact information is on our farm site (Oak Hill Stables of Virginia, a Roanoke Area Horse Farm).

Sean
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Old 10-06-2008, 11:02 AM
 
10 posts, read 35,841 times
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Arrow tick answers

Quote:
Originally Posted by SmorClby View Post
My wife and I are considering relocating to SW Virginia from Vermont. We have horses and dogs, and currently have a very minor tick issue where we live now. Since we would be purchasing acreage in VA and spending a great deal of our time outside, we are wondering how bad the tick situation is in the areas south of Rocky Mount? Of particular concern is our horses. Would we be talking about having an occasional tick on us or our animals, or is it more of a daily issue to check people and animals? We recently heard stories of some folks who brought their horses on a trip somewhere in TN, and told of a MAJOR problem with ticks all over them and thier horses everyday. I have read the current posts on this topic, so I know they will be somewhat worse than in VT, but just trying to find out if it is a show stopper for us or not with regard to moving to VA. Any insight is greatly appreciated!
hi there from one New Englander CT-to another-we too are considering our move to the Marion area SW VA. We live here in CT 30 minutes from where Lyme Disease was discovered. Ticks are a HUGE problem here and we live surrounded by the State Forest.We check ourselves and clothing constantly. We use the Preventic collars for the dogs-it is the ONLY product out there that works-it paralyzes the ticks and they die-works for 90 days even if they get caught in a rainstorm! haven't found a similiar effective product that really works for the horses. My dogs and horses have been treated for Lyme Disease. . I vaccinate my dogs against it too. And for us humans, many use Deet sprays. Without using any of thse preventative measures I can easily pull off 40 ticks a day.THAT is a huge problem with ticks-I don't think VA will be worse!
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Old 10-06-2008, 06:12 PM
 
2 posts, read 7,420 times
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Default Thanks to everyone for your input!

Farmer Girl - That is the kind of nightmare I'm trying to avoid for sure!

SeanPecor - Small world indeed! I appreciate your info. The land you have/will have for sale looks nice. We have 2 Morgan horses - I noticed you had one on your site as well. Something else thats pretty funny....I had mentioned to my wife that she should try just picking a horse farm in VA and send them an email asking about ticks. I later put up my posting here, and after getting your reply we discovered she sent her email to your horsefarm! Is there another email address I can use to discuss the land for sale?
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Old 10-06-2008, 07:56 PM
 
Location: Apex, NC
1,341 posts, read 6,189,571 times
Reputation: 618
You can email me at sean at digitalspinner dot com anytime. I'm outside most mornings accelerating the aging process with solar rays and power tools, but after lunch I turn back into a computer geek again and I can respond to emails. You'll find my email at my blog too (Sean’s Horse Farm and Family Blog).

Hey, yeah, I think my wife just forwarded me an email from a lady asking about Ticks I'm guessing that's your wife (Lori?). I may have answered her questions in this thread but if she's got more than I'd be happy to try and help.

Sean
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