FACIAL ECZEMA

Wairarapa Times-Age, 26 December 1939, Page 3

FACIAL ECZEMA

PRECAUTIONARY MEASURES PREVENTION OF DISEASE. SOME SEASONAL ADVICE. (Contributed by the Facial Eczema Management Committee). The Facial Eczema Management Committee recommends that sheepfarmers especially should now take definite steps to safeguard their flocks against the possibility of an outbreak of facial eczema in 1940. In order to prevent facial eczema by farm management. methods, the first steps must be taken immediately, before there is any definite indication that the weather conditions are likely to favour the disease. So far Waikato weather conditions have "been normal, and there is no indication that an outbreak of facial eczema is at all likely. However, the weather is being carefully watched, and should the type of season likely to produce the disease develop, farmers will be advised immediatey. Epidemics of facial eczema occur when a quick flush of grass in warm and humid weather follows a drought period, and stock should be kept off this rapidly growing grass in the autumn for several weeks. For this to bo done farmers should build up reserves of hay and silage, and maintain a part of their farm in mature grass which can be grazed when a flush growth is taking place on hard grazed paddocks. Growing conditions in December this year are excellent and farmers are, therefore, "advised to save as much hay and silage as possible, and to close up fields in December to provide mature feed.

EXPERIENCE WITH MATURE FEED.

Following the 1938 outbreak of facial eczema the Facial Eczema Management Committee issued a bulletin on farm management methods designed to prevent the disease, the advice in the bulletin being based on the results of farm surveys conducted during and after the 1938 epidemic. Experimental areas were established in the Waikato to investigate the disease and thoroughly test the suggested plans for prevention. Very few cases of eczema occurred in the flocks and herds in the Waikato in tne summer and autumn of 1939( but on certain fields at the experimental station at Karamu a mild epidemic did occur, and here the provision of mature feed lessened the severity of the disease.

At the Karamu outstation a hundred ewes were rotated through four fields during the winter, spring and early summer; in December, 1938, one field was taken out of the grazing rotation and closed for mature feed, the ewes then being rotated through the remaining three fields. December and January were fairly good growing months but only .79 inches of rain fell in February and .61 inches in March; there were dry spells from February 10 to March 10, and from March 12 to 29. In April 3.86 inches of rain fell, the first rain being on April 19. During the dry weather the herbage eaten by the sheep was dry and short; the fields were not completely burnt up for there were small patches where the herbage remained greener than the rest of the field. The rain commencing on April 19 did not bring away a rapid flush of feed.

The ewes were tested regularly for liver function and on April 19, 1939, jaundice appeared in nine ewes out of the 100. Twenty-five ewes (including three reactors) were placed on mature feed on April 13; two others reacted just before or just after going on the mature feed; and subsequently two further cases of jaundice were detected in this group, one of which, a very mild case, appeared on May 24, and the other appeared on June 13, after the majority of the mature feed was eaten. Thus only one mild case occurred, while the ewes were grazing definite mature feed. In the group of 75 ewes which continued to rotate through the three other paddocks, over 50 per cent of the ewes showed some degree of jaundice and a number of these showed the skin lesions of facial eczema. This experience with mature feed occurred in a non-epidemic year, and it is impossible to say whether it would have been as successful if the outbreak had been as severe as that of 1938. However, until the cause of the disease is elucidated, the saving of mature feed and grazing it at critical periods is the only rational method to adopt. In this experiment the first cases occurred during the dry weather, and the sheep were moved to mature feed before the dry spell broke. The conditions obtaining in the autumn of 1940 will be closely watched by the Facial Eczema Management Committee and timely advice will be given to farmers on the correct time to move their sheep from closely grazed pastures to mature feed. MANAGEMENT POINTS. Fields for mature feed should be closed in December; the area closed should be a quarter to one-third of the farm and should consist of at least four fields so that the fields may be closed and grazed in rotation. Fields closed in December should be those containing a fair proportion of cocksfoot and situated on land least likely to Hush rapidly in the autumn, c.g. moist fiat or peat land, or, if rolling country is shut up. choose land that lies away from the sun. The shutting up of fields in which paspalum is dominant should be postponed to the middle of January. Fields cut in December for hay arc often the most convenient and best fields for closing for mature feed, as the aftermath is likely to bo mainly cocksfoot.

Fields of mature feed require careful management. Last year many farmers attempting to follow the committee’s advice shut fields in December and allowed them to become very rank; then when drought conditions occurred in March and April fed them down with cattle, because cattle feed on the other fields on their farms had become scarce. The mature feed should

i- be carefully controlled so that it is r. maintained at about eight inches in .. height; this necessitates regular top- . ping with the mower or topping with >, cattle. Last season's experience on exr, perimental areas indicated that regur lar and careful topping with cattle n maintained the fields of mature feed in t good condition. I To conserve the fields of mature feed . for sheep it may be necessary to main--3 tain or partially maintain cattle on hay s and silage; hence the importance of t building up reserves of hay and silage, i The weather so far experienced in De--3 cember has been conducive of excel- . lent pasture growth, and it should not s be difficult for farmers to close fields , for mature feed, and also secure rei serves of hay and silage. ’ UTILISATION OF MATURE FEED. If conditions suitable for the development of ec/ema occur the fields of • mature feed should be grazed in rotaI tion so that only mature feed is eaten. It may occur that the fields of mature ( feed have to be carefully rationed to I I last the flock until the fresh autumn feed is mature. The sheep may have , to be fed partially on mature grass and partially on hay and silage. To facilitate rationing a special holding paddock may be necessary where the sheep can be held for hay feeding. , i This field could with advantage be one mainly composed of paspalum or one situated on moist flat land or peat where no dangerous flush of grass is likely to occur. Ample shade is very desirable in this holding paddock. In closing fields for mature feed this fact should be kept in mind so that they are convenient to the holding paddock SUMMARY. 1. The first steps in the prevention of facial eczema must be taken now before there is any definite indication that conditions favourable for an outbreak of facial eczema are likely to occur in the autumn. 2. Sheep farmers are recommended to close up a quarter to a third of the farm in December for mature feed for feeding to the flock should conditions favouring eczema occur in the autumn. 3. The mature feed should be kept at the eight inch stage of growth by regular topping with the mower or topping with cattle. 4. Experiences on a Waikato experimental area in 1939 indicated that mature feed was helpful in lessening the severity of the disease. 5. The Facial Eczema Management Committee will keep a very careful watch on the weather conditions, and health of the sheep on the Waikato experimental areas;/md. in event of conditions occurring which indicate that an outbreak of the disease is likely, the Committee will issue early advice to sheep farmers regarding the moving of sheep on to mature feed and their general management and feeding.