Cattle play a significant role in the socio-economic life of the people of Ethiopia. Ticks are the most common external parasites of cattle reducing production, involved in the spread of diseases, as well as inflict damage to hides and skins leading to significant financial loss to farmers. A cross-sectional study was conducted to determine tick ecology, diversity and prevalence on local breed cattle in Estie district, South Gondar Zone, North West Ethiopia from November 2017 to June 2018. The collected data were analyzed by Chi-square test and descriptive statistics. A total of 384 cattle were examined. Of these, 142 cattle were infested by one or more tick species with an overall prevalence of (36.97%). About 1921 ticks were collected from different predilection sites in sampled cattle from four agro ecological zones and examine under hand lens and stereomicroscope to identify into genera level. Four tick genera, Amblyomma (42.01%), Boophillus (25.56%), Rhipicephalus (17.07%) and Hyalomma (15.36%) were identified. There was no significant difference in prevalence of tick in cattle across the four agro-ecologies (32.80%) in Wurch, (40.00%) in Dega, (44.89%) in Weyna Dega and (36.66%) in Kola. The highest tick infestation was observed in old age cattle (52.38%) followed by adult (33.00%) and young age (26.58%). In this study, cattle with poor body condition (64.1%) were the most infested and relatively less in medium (24.2%) and good (21.4%) body condition cattle. The prevalence of tick infestation was found to be significantly different among predilection sites; Vulva/breast (24.73%), scrotum (24.36%), Perineum/anus (21.86%), dewlap (12.86%), belly/flank (6.14%), tail/leg (6.09%) and head/ear (4.53%). Animal management system was strongly associated with tick prevalence; cattle raised through extensive management system were more affected than those which were kept under semi-intensive management system. No statistically significance difference in prevalence of tick was observed in male and female cattle. The sex ratio of all tick genera was skewed towards male except for Boophilus. Difference in agro-ecologies, predilection sites, cattle body conditions, age and sex of cattle and animal management system were the identified factors related with tick prevalence. For effective controls of tick prevalence, further study on ecological diversity, frequency and seasonal occurrence of ticks on cattle should be conducted. Practice the most effective traditional tick control method should be necessary. Key words: • Ethiopia, Estie, cattle, infestation, ticks, prevalence