Time for a fresh approach
An expert is advising Taranaki farmers to start afresh in the way they manage facial eczema this season.
Facial eczema specialist and Waikato veterinarian Emma Cuttance is urging farmers to attend her workshop at the Westpac Taranaki Agricultural Research Station (WTARS) spring open day on Wednesday, November 2.
She said farmers should set aside their previous assumptions about facial eczema management and base their decisions instead on up-to-date information gathered from fungal spore counts on their own farms and from blood tests of their own animals.
She has the backing of DairyNZ Taranaki regional leader Katrina Knowles, who said last autumn’s facial eczema outbreak in the region was the worst since the 1980s.
Farmers needed to be wellprepared in the event of a high rate of the disease next season because a second dose of facial eczema on animals which had sub-clinical levels of the disease last autumn would be disastrous, not only for its effect on milk production but also for animal health.
Having animals with facial eczema could also create mental health issues for the farmers who owned them because they hated seeing their suffering, she said.
Facial eczema spore counts well in excess of the danger level of 100,000 were measured all over Taranaki last season and peaked at 1,240,000 at Omata.
Caused by a toxin growing in the dead litter at the base of pasture in warm, moist conditions, facial eczema damages an animal’s liver and bile ducts, reduces fertility and causes exposed, unpigmented or thin skin to redden, thicken and peel.
Cuttance said farmers needed to identify the weaknesses in their facial eczema management to avoid a recurrence of the disease in their herds this season.
When regional spore counts reached 20,000, farmers should start monitoring their own farms, measuring spores on four representative paddocks to identify the trend.
‘‘When the trend on your farm starts zooming up, that’s when you start the management programme on your farm.’’
Even though few farmers undertook blood tests of their cows, it was something she recommended because it showed whether their zinc programme was working.
‘‘Managing facial eczema is not just about giving cows zinc or using fungicides.
‘‘It is about minimising all the reasons why management breaks down.’’
She said while the disease was severe last season, facial eczema was a problem every year.
‘‘Most farmers have a large number of cows affected by the disease and just don’t know it.’’
Another severe season of facial eczema was likely in future, so farmers needed to improve their management programmes until measures like breeding stock tolerant of facial eczema became more widespread, she said.
At the field day she will outline measures that manage facial eczema effectively and explain why management programmes fail.
She hopes farmers, farm managers and farm staff who have anything to do with facial eczema management will attend.
Two other speakers will address the field day.
DairyNZ scientist Kevin Macdonald will provide an update on his Taranaki research into feed conversion efficiency and colleague Claire Phyn who will discuss the sub-clinical ketosis trial undertaken at WTARS this spring.