PREVENTING LOSSES FROM FACIAL ECZEMA

Te Ao Hou, December 1957, Page 52

PREVENTING LOSSES FROM FACIAL ECZEMA If warm rains fall in February after a spell of hot weather, facial eczema is likely to occur in districts which are usually affected. However, the Department of Agriculture contends that experience during recent years has shown conclusively that the disease can be prevented by shutting sheep up at a rate which leaves no pasture in the paddock after 24 hours. Sheep should be shut up as soon as rains fall and should be confined until the weather becomes either hot and dry or much cooler and the pasture visibly hardens. If the summer is hot, plans should be made for action as described. Feeding of good hay at 21b, per sheep per day will prevent loss of condition. Even if adequate hay is not available, when ample water is provided ewes are not harmed by one or two weeks' starvation. The department of Agriculture considers that it is better to take precautions too often than to run the risk of disastrous outbreak of facial exzema. If crops of rape, kale, turnips, or chou moelfier are available, they can safely be grazed during the dangerous period. The grazing of such crops is the only satisfactory way of preventing the disease in lambs, which react badly to restricted grazing. Lucerne has not proved safe, possibly because ryegrass is frequently present among it as a weed, but in east coast districts paddocks of pure white clover are safe and lambs do well on them. Bulletin No. 388, “Losses from Facial Eczema Can be Prevented”, giving details of the cause and prevention of facial eczema, is available from all offices of the Department of Agriculture.