Many didn't think the theileria problem was a big issue, but reports are now circulating among farmers who have lost 10 to 20 cows – and up to 100 in big herds, where clearly there is no resistance to the disease.

Cattle with anaemia, which are listless and won't eat, may have been infected with theileria.

Apart from deaths, farmers have had massive vet bills from attempts to save sick animals with drugs, even having to resort to costly blood transfusions.

The problem arrived from Northland along with their ticks, and infected the Waikato and Bay of Plenty's resident ticks. The biology is complex where the cattle tick (resident here for a long time), is now carrying a protozoan (which arrived much later), and after a complex journey ends up in a cow's red blood cells where it does major damage.
Northland cattle must have immunity against the disease that Waikato and Bay of Plenty cows don't have yet. So if you have cattle with anaemia, are listless and won't eat, then get a vet check for theileria.

The cattle tick also hops on sheep, deer, goats, horses, hares, rabbits, pet dogs and cats; so even if you kill all of the ticks on a cow, other vectors in the tick life cycle can still be the source of spread to other cattle, and worse still – to your neighbours.
The theileria protozoan, which is basically a single-cell lump of jelly, cunningly cycles inside the tick's various stages (except eggs), so even if you kill the ticks on a beast and the host dies, the theileria keeps going.

Farmers report vets are struggling to cure infected stock. Basically, after using the approved pour-on to kill the ticks, apart from some new expensive drugs with long withholding periods and a last resort a blood transfusion, the only thing you can do is to reduce stress on the animals and hope their natural immunity will kick in and deal to the theileria.

Wormade's Oral Mineral Supplement has helped farmers in recent months with theileria-infected stock, as it's designed to boost immunity. It's been very effective with infected calves, which have not had time to develop their immunity.

The best thing you could do before stock come on to your farm from an outside source, and where you don't know the theileria status of the ticks, is to treat stock for ticks a week before they leave, and give them a dose of OMS while in a quarantine paddock on your farm to boost their immunity. (Source Wormade).