Be prepared for early Eczema

The warm humid December weather in the Waikato and other northern regions, should be a warning for small block owners to start their Facial Eczema (FE) precautions immediately.  There have already been reports of cows affected with what is usually referred to as 'Spring Eczema'.  It's also caused by fungal toxins the same as FE, which traditionally occurred later before seasons started to warm up earlier.

After more than 30 years of knowing that zinc is the best preventative for the disease, there are still people who are regularly caught out - for the simple reason that they delay treatment until they or their neighbours see clinical cases. This is too late.

It takes about three weeks for the zinc salts used (sulphate in the water system, and oxide as a drench or bolus) to be built up in the liver and be effective against the fungal toxins which grows on the pasture. So it's important to get started on January 1.

The spore counts put out by vet clinics, websites and newspapers can only be very general warnings, so to be sure, it's best to do your own spore counting of pasture samples or dung samples. Do these over different parts of the farm as they will vary enormously depending on how sheltered or exposed paddocks are to sun and wind.

Far too many farmers last year had affected stock and blamed lack of information. This is not true as there is a mass of information through veterinarians as well as on the www.lifestyleblock.co.nz website and the blog <woolshed1.blogspot.com>.

All affected stock by law must be treated and not left out in the sun.

ENDS 290 words

Dr Clive Dalton is a former agricultural scientist and Polytech tutor, and is now technical editor of www.lifestyleblock.co.nz  He can be contacted at CLOAKING CLOAKING   His personal blog is woolshed1.blogspot.com