fbpx
Print this page
Tuesday, 12 November 2019 09:55

Manawatu farmers moving against facial eczema

Written by  Peter Burke
DairyNZ’s Chris Glassey makes a point at the field day last week. DairyNZ’s Chris Glassey makes a point at the field day last week.

A group of dairy farmers in southern Manawatu are taking a proactive approach to dealing with facial eczema (FE) in the coming months.

It’s estimated that a bad case of FE can cost up to $113 per cow in lost production.

The farmers asked their DairyNZ consulting officer Kate Stewart to organise a discussion of FE and 30 farmers turned up recently to hear a local vet and a DairyNZ expert on the subject. They met at Graeme Richfield’s farm near Tokomaru. 

Richfield milks 220 Jersey cows on his 85ha block, each year battling FE. Proactive in his approach, each January he takes grass samples to Totally Vets at Palmerston North who measure the spores. 

He says he takes samples from different paddocks to make sure he gets a good representative sample that will pick up any sign of FE on the farm.

“I started monitoring about six years ago and our start time depends on the weather conditions. It may be late January or February and we continue into April or May, again depending on conditions.”

Like most farmers he puts zinc in the stock water to help prevent FE taking hold.

Local vet Ryan Carr, of Totally Vets, says FE has been a consistent problem in the area every year and he says he’s noticed spore counts appear to be rising every year. He says the counts used to be about 100,000, now he says they are around 500,000.

Totally Vets has a series of monitor farms in the region and they take samples from them every week from when FE is likely to appear. This gives farmers a general warning, but he says farmers have to look at their own farms closely to see how these may be affected.

“The first real obvious sign of FE on a farm is when cows show signs of being irritated and start seeking shade. It will then progress to obvious signs with the skin looking horribly sunburnt. 

“I have seen black Angus cows before and they are obviously uncomfortable and losing weight but you can’t see anything on their skin. It’s only when you look inside their mouth that you can see their tongue is burnt and their nose is burnt. Before these signs there will be a noticeable drop in milk production.”

But Carr says by this time the damage to the cow’s liver is done and all that can be done is make the cow comfortable by providing her with shade.

The DairyNZ answer

Chris Glassey, a farm systems specialist at DairyNZ, was the main speaker at the meeting. 

He says traditionally FE has been a North Island problem but it is now spreading into many parts of the South Island. 

FE is a hard disease for farmers to control because on each farm some paddocks may be more susceptible than others.

It’s a disease farmers must prevent, so it is wise of the Manawatu farmers to prepare for the onset of FE in the new year. 

“There is a lot of material on the DairyNZ website on how farmers can prevent the disease. We have funded a veterinarian to do some research for us and her findings are on the web site,” he says.

But personally Glassey says he’d like to see more emphasis on breeding cows tolerant to FE. 

More like this

From Sky Tower to cowshed

Every morning dairy farmer Sam Waugh sees the Auckland Sky Tower through his window. It's a great reminder of one of his key life goals - giving young people from towns and cities insights into farm life.

Celebrating dairy farmers this International Women's Day

Siobhan O’Malley is a dairy farmer, innovator, businesswoman and community volunteer, an example of the thousands of Kiwi dairy farming women throughout New Zealand who multi-task every day to contribute positively to their communities.

Unique dairy farms open their gates

A dairy farm working to increase endangered skink numbers and a boutique farm selling milk in recycled bottles will open their gates to the public this Sunday.

Featured

Sheep drench resistance costly

Analysis by Dunedin-based Techion New Zealand shows the cost of undetected drench resistance in sheep has exploded to an estimated $98 million a year.

Dairy sheep and goat turmoil

Dairy sheep and goat farmers are being told to reduce milk supply as processors face a slump in global demand for their products.

Hurry up and slow down!

OPINION: We have good friends from way back who had lived in one of our major cities for many years.

National

Govt urged to reduce ETS units

The Climate Change Commission wants the new Government to reduce NZ Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) auction volumes as son as…

Dairy sheep, goat woes mount

Dairy sheep and goat farmers are being told to reduce milk supply as processors face a slump in global demand…

Machinery & Products

All-terrain fert spreading mode

Effluent specialists the Samson Group have developed a new double unloading system to help optimise uphill and downhill organic fertiliser…

Can-Am showcases range

Based on industry data collected by the Motor Industry Association, Can-Am is the number one side-by-side manufacturer in New Zealand.