Can getting on top of facial eczema be done? Yes, because I have done it.
One year, like many other farmers in the district, I lost nearly half my herd to facial eczema (FE) despite zinc treatment.
That was repeated several years later.
The financial and emotional costs of cows not making it to the shed, dying in the paddocks, under hedges, the stench of eczema urine in the shed was extremely difficult.
Despite zinc dispensers, overdosed troughs, dehydrated milking cows and administering multiple zinc bullets per animal the milkers were still dying, not to mention the utter disaster with young stock.
The situation was so depressing I will never forget it.
Very simply, eczema in cattle results from toxins produced by the fungal decomposition of dead plant matter when eaten by cattle.
Generally, it appears in warm, humid conditions and young stock seem more susceptible.
I suspect with increasing global temperatures and changing weather patterns we can only expect to see eczema issues increase.
After yet another bad eczema season my fertiliser spreading contractor gently mentioned how some of his other clients spread lime with their annual dressing for the sole purpose of reducing eczema and with some success.
I dismissed that because, to me, it was obviously yet more unproven snake oil.
After many discussions my Ballance representative at the time was able to come up with some supportive evidence of the concept but it sadly lacked the required element of having a control.
For the previous 14 seasons, on Ballance’s pH recommendation, we applied no lime.
Facial eczema is particularly difficult to manage in a System 1 dairy farming operation because there are no alternative feed sources. Since lime is cheap and eczema extremely costly, we gave it a shot at 300-350kg/ha in our annual dressing.
The following year CRV introduced its facial eczema-tolerant team of bulls, which I have used exclusively ever since. Breeding indexes are irrelevant as dead or sick cows and young stock produce no milk.
For me this has been a great success, subject to the necessary, ongoing culling of the odd remaining genetically susceptible throwback calf that still pops up.
It was simply too straightforward, inexpensive, effective and involved no extra work.
This is not an advert but the result has to be recognised. Susceptibility to eczema is genetic.
As CRV is the only supplier of eczema-tolerant sires I have used it since their inception.
As no facial eczema-tolerant tailing off bulls are available I bred my own. I simply retained AB eczema-tolerant bull calves from the best cows calving in the first cycle because they are my most fertile cows.
I also used the bulls over the heifers. That is not easy on the heifers but nowhere as tough as eczema.
Throwbacks to facial eczema intolerance still crop up and are culled as weaners or at the first sign of the disease. The dairy industry has been introducing eczema-intolerant genetics into New Zealand herds since the inception of imported semen.
Lime is included in the annual dressing at 300-350kg/ha early January. The application date is critical, being immediately before the autumn eczema period.
To my surprise I saw the presence of lime (calcium) in the grass sward base at the above rate/ha – nothing to do with soils or soil pH – resulted in a massive reduction in fungal activity, disturbingly the exact opposite finding to Dairy NZ Myth Busters, whose methodology I challenged, suggesting they come and replicate their findings in Karaka. They have been conspicuous by their absence.
From the very first year a marked absence of clinical eczema was observed over all age groups along with the absence of mushrooms and the red/orange rust plague in autumn-saved pasture. My autumn-saved pasture now holds for up to three months, rust free, at which time the lower leaves are yellowing but still no rust.
It seems our use of zinc simply masks the ailments of eczema without addressing the cause, all the while filling the pockets of animal health companies and running already overloaded farmers ragged bulleting and dispensing.
Contrary to common belief, I understand zinc assists with the recovery from and not the prevention of facial eczema.
As I said above, I have bulleted milkers with up to three bullets at once and dosed troughs to the max manually and with in-line dispensers and they still died from eczema. Zinc made not a blind bit of difference for me. Broken contour precluded effective spraying of fungicides.
My suggestion to other farmers is be proactive – even if you live in an area where FE isn’t present or hasn’t been yet. You never know when it might appear so don’t think you are safe.
Take the case in Blenheim, for example.
The 84 year old farmer whose herd was hit with FE in recent years had not seen FE in the entire district in living memory.
Having your herd hit with FE is downright heart-breaking.
Watching your young stock is even worse.
You feel so helpless.
But with a few changes you can get on top of it and protect your business and asset against yet another curve ball nature might have for you just around the corner.
Andrew Cryer is 62 years old, owned his herd for 37 seasons and has a System 1 dairy farm in the notorious eczema district of Karaka, South Auckland.
MORE:
If you have a burning issue you want to discuss or draw attention to or would like to share your experience on a subject and would like to contribute to this page, drop us a line at sonita.chandar@globalhq.co.nz
