Facial eczema continues to be a mystery to the farming world, yet there are certainly ways to combat the fungal disease while feeding the pastures.
A one-off case study by Wanganui-based agricultural fertiliser broker Robin Casey reveals just how mysterious the FE situation can be.
"We did the one-off trialto monitor FE spore counts on a property that is traditionally known as a hot spot. The trial was a real roller coaster ride," Mr Casey said.
"The first two readings from the pastures showed spores had increased markedly. The penultimate reading on April 18 produced a spore count of 90,000, well up on the 10,000 of April 4.
"The April 18 reading was 28 days after spraying. The final count on April 30 showed 5000.
"Now despite those up and down figures, none of the stock have shown any signs of FE.
"The only was to find if stock have been affected is when clinical signs appear and that's too late. What I do is monitor the herbage analysis from Hills Laboratory which shows me what levels of zinc are in the pastures.
"Zinc obviously is what we use to prevent FE because there simply is no cure. If the herbage test shows me zinc levels are low then the stock are not getting the prevention they require unless the farmer is drenching or using capsules."
Mr Casey said while drenching or employing capsules to prevent FE is an effective method, there is still the job of balancing nutrients and trace elements in the soil and herbage.
"By applying the rates of zinc an animal needs to prevent FE by spraying the pastures we can also add other nutrients and trace elements rectifying several problems. In this case study we managed to not only prevent stock falling to FE, but we also got rid of the thistles and balanced the soil and herbage.
"The stock on this farm are thriving. While FE will remain a mystery to us all, there are ways to combat it and grow stock at the same time," Mr Casey said.
