Eliminating Facial Eczema Impacts Programme

The recently announced Eliminating Facial Eczema Impacts programme is a significant step towards managing Facial Eczema (FE), a disease that is costing the sheep, beef, dairy and deer farmers an estimated $332 million annually.

This programme is a $20.7 million collaboration between Beef + Lamb New Zealand, the Ministry for Primary Industries through the Sustainable Food and Fibre Futures fund, and 13 industry partners.

With the aim of delivering new tools and solutions to help farmers to manage FE, the Eliminating Facial Eczema Impacts (EFEI) programme will work with farmers, leading scientists from B+LNZ, Crown Research Institutes, Universities, and rural professionals across the sector. It is expected to generate a cost saving of $38 million for New Zealand by the end of the seven-year programme, with an additional annual benefit of $20 million thereafter.

In the lead up to the announcement, B+LNZ’s research team had been working on several FE research projects. One project has involved AgResearch Principal Scientist Dr Axel Heiser with the aim of developing a test for Facial Eczema (FE) tolerance which eliminates the need for the animal to be exposed to the toxin. Dr Cara Brosnahan, B+LNZ’s Principal Adviser Animal Health Research, says that while the science is challenging, work is progressing to assess the suitability of the test for use in a commercial laboratory.

B+LNZ also launched the FE sheep-poo study to help understand why, when and how FE occurs across New Zealand. The study, running over three FE seasons from 2023–2026, requires farmers to regularly submit poo samples from one mob of sheep between October to May. It is hoped that the same farms will be engaged for the three years and that up to 350 farms will be involved each year.

FE is associated with a toxin released by fungi which sit at the base of the pasture. The disease reduces productivity and can cause significant stock losses. It a ects farmers financially and as it can be a significant animal welfare issue, it can impact on farmers’ mental wellbeing. The disease is expected to spread more widely across New Zealand under a changing climate.