Check your spore counts!

By Max Newport, Bay of Islands Veterinary Services

Summer is certainly here, which has been great for the holiday makers, but it is now starting to dry out the farms.

Hopefully we will get some significant rain soon to allow the grass to grow for the next round. Most farms are coping, with either feeding out Palm Kernel or grass silage and turnips.

It is sad to see the dairy payout drop so much in one season, hopefully it will start to lift again once the world financial system has stabilised. With the NZ $ hovering about 50 c US, returns for sheep and beef will hopefully be a little better in the future.

FACIAL ECZEMA:

This year has the potential to be a problem with facial Eczema as there has been quite a lot of dead matter in the pastures and the nights have been warm.

We have had one reported clinical case in a cow, and spore counts have ranged from zero to 30,000. If your property is prone to eczema, then now is the time to start taking preventative measures.

Alpacas and Lamas are very prone to facial eczema, so the feeding of meal with zinc added is necessary to keep them protected.

Zinc drenching, bullets or water trough treatments- they all play a part depending on which class of stock are being treated.

This year there is a choice of bullets for young cattle with Bomac releasing Face- Guard, a Zinc capsule, which gives up to 6 weeks’ protection. You can also spray your paddocks with zinc oxide to treat your cattle or sheep.

The use of Fungicidal sprays has come back into fashion with the advent of Mycotak/Mycowet from Coast Biologicals. These products can give up to 6 weeks’ protection from one application and do not have any negative effects on digestibility of the grasses.

We offer a free Spore counting service form both our Kaikohe and Waipapa clinics.

Paihia (09) 402 8584
Kerikeri (09) 407 7354
Kawakawa (09) 404 0842
Waipapa (09) 401 6654
Kaikohe (09) 401 1536