LIC is working on developing a milk test and a breeding value to help farmers detect FE earlier.
LIC chief scientist Richard Spelman says the milk-based diagnostic test was in development and if successful, would give farmers early insight into the FE status of their herd before clinical signs are apparent.
“We’re working on a milk test, which detects liver damage when the herd is exposed to a medium to high toxin level,” Spelman said.
How this test will be delivered to farmers hasn’t been confirmed but the co-op is collaborating with Fonterra to validate whether the test is effective with a bulk milk sample.
“We’re also looking into the potential for an individual milk test, which could be an add-on to a routine herd test. The individual milk test would provide farmers with a less invasive, more efficient alternative to blood testing,” he said.
The disease costs the dairy industry around $30 million a year in lost production.
Spelman says LIC’s long-term aim is to develop a FE breeding value, which would allow farmers to breed cows that are more resistant to the disease.
“We know that facial eczema resistance is a heritable trait. If we’re able to generate a facial eczema breeding value, we could rank our artificial breeding bulls based on their resistance for farmers to select from,” he said.
To gather the data needed to generate a breeding value, the co-op has collected blood and milk samples from 4000 cows that have been naturally exposed to FE.
“We’re using groundbreaking milk testing alongside traditional blood tests to develop a facial eczema breeding value based on genomics,” he said.
The research into a FE milk test and breeding value is being undertaken through the $25 million Resilient Dairy research programme. The seven-year Sustainable Food and Fibres Futures programme seeks to enhance the health and wellbeing of the national dairy herd.
Meanwhile, in the drystock industry, initial results from a pilot study to develop a laboratory test to determine FE tolerance have been positive.
This has paved the way for more detailed investigation into the study, funded by Beef + Lamb NZ and conducted by AgResearch.
It aims to develop a fully validated test, readily available for breeders and commercial farmers.
B+LNZ’s general manager of farming excellence Dan Brier says initial results looked promising with the establishment of a cell culture method, using sheep and cattle blood, to demonstrate sporidesmin (the toxin that causes FE) toxicity.
“This indicates that animals could be tested for tolerance without needing to be exposed to the toxin,” Brier said.
He says saliva tests also showed some promise and could be explored further to form the basis of a diagnostic test.
“Put simply, the overall results of this pilot study were positive and built a strong case for progressing to the next phase in the development of a commercially available test for farmers,” he said.
Brier says a simple laboratory test would revolutionise FE testing in this country.
Currently, the only method of testing for FE tolerance involves exposing a ram to the toxin and observing the toxic effects.
The challenges of using this test have led to low numbers of rams being assessed every year.
“FE is estimated to cost the New Zealand livestock industries up to $200 million per year and a simple lab test would give both breeders and commercial farmers the ability to select animals that are genetically more tolerant to the toxin and therefore carry on producing in the face of a seasonal challenge,” he said.
