increase font size
Horowhenua veterinarian Keith Christensen.
Facial eczema (FE) has hit Horowhenua much earlier than normal due to lots of rain and high temperatures.
Speaking at a DairyNZ discussion group in the region, Horowhenua veterinarian Keith Christensen says spore counts in the area are the highest seen at this time of year for several years.
He says the region had a dry summer and then suddenly a lot of rain and heat. Once the rain hit, the dry matter on the ground was ideal for spores to grow.
Facial eczema is caused by the toxin sporidesmin, produced by the fungus Pithomyces chartarum which grows rapidly in warm wet pastures mainly from January to April, although FE has been known to occur in May.
The sporidesmin damages the liver of an animal and makes them sensitive to light, causing severe inflammation on parts of the skin especially around ears, eyes and udder. Soil temperature also gives a push to the disease.
"The conditions will vary from farm to farm and will depend on how individual farmers have managed their grazing and how much dead matter they have around," says Christensen. "In general you feel the air is rotting as you drive around. Sometimes it's very tropical and so the spore counts across the district are high."
He says many people spray their paddocks to ward off FE but this year in Horowhenua it has caught many farmers unawares and the best way of dealing with it is to put zinc in the water lines.
This reactive approach is cost effective because it allows farmers to wait until there is a problem before they use zinc. And the zinc can stay in the shed for use next year.
Another option is to put stock onto a crop where there is not the same risk of spore build-up.
Scanning is a great time to start identifying and managing groups of ewes based on feeding priorities. Wormwise's Mary Bowron discusses some of the possible reasons ewes lose condition in early winter - and it's not necessarily internal parasites.
DairyNZ says Waikato farmers need certainty on Plan Change 1, but they say that certainty must be matched with practical, workable rules and a clear transition that doesn't get ahead of the new resource management system currently under review.
OPINION: The dairy sector has been told that it cannot afford to rest on its laurels.
The dairy industry cannot rest on its laurels despite providing one in every four export dollars earned by the country, says DairyNZ chief executive Campbell Parker.
Increased competition for water means the whole community is looking at how irrigators use water.
New Zealand dairy farmers are set to be the first in the world to receive access to a new digital physical milk pricing tool that enables them to fix the price for their physical milk.
State farmer Pāmu is opening its farm gates this summer in an effort to give the rural sector the opportunity to see how large-scale, multi-system farming is delivering productivity and profitability across New Zealand.
A five-year study has found that the cost of reducing emissions without technology may be significant and unsustainable for Northland dairy farmers.
DairyNZ says Waikato farmers need certainty on Plan Change 1, but they say that certainty must be matched with practical, workable rules and a clear transition that doesn't get ahead of the new resource management system currently under review.
While the Government has moved quickly to make commercial hauliers' lot easier during the current fuel crisis, they appear to be stuck in the creep box when it comes to the agricultural industry.
Waikato farmers have been told that the Government’s new planning system legislation and the region’s Plan Change 1 (PC1) “won’t mesh together very well”.
OPINION: No one messes around with Winston Peters, more so in a general election year.
OPINION: Staying on Federated Farmers, this week's annual general meeting in Auckland is shaping up to be an interesting one.
