Elevated facial eczema risk among livestock is the downside to the welcome rain that has come to the upper North Island in recent days.

This autumn marks not only the end of a prolonged dry spell, but also the end of a three year DairyNZ research project aimed at understanding facial eczema control and how to manage it better.

Dairy farmer Michael Bennett and veterinarian Emma Cuttance.

Estimates vary but the disease can cause tens of millions of dollars in lost production and animal health costs, and significant suffering for affected animals.

DairyNZ project leader Jo Sheridan says the project was initiated after farmers raised their concerns over the high reliance on zinc to control facial eczema in cows and wanted to see if there was more we could do to stop or reduce the amount of spores in pastures.

Thanks to joint funding through DairyNZ and the Sustainable Farming Fund, the project was given extra momentum with the appointment of Emma Cuttance, a veterinarian and Masters student who is completing her thesis on facial eczema.

'We have managed to examine a range of options that come up on farmers' radar when it comes to controlling facial eczema at a pasture level, and also to test some of the recommendations that exist around it,” Jo says.

One particular idea was that applying lime onto pasture will reduce eczema spore counts to harmless levels.

DairyNZ engaged the assistance of Te Awamutu sharemilker Michael Bennett to put the claims to the test between 2011 and autumn 2013.

'What I liked about that trial was it proved that short-term liming was not a reliable option, and removed another ‘possible' treatment you hear about,” says Michael.

Studying the spore counts at 40 different sites in one paddock revealed significant count variability and reinforced the need to have an accurate spore count specific to the farm, and even to paddocks.

For Michael accurate spore counting early on means he can determine when he starts drenching his 450 cow herd. After the latest rain, and despite having dried them off, he will be continuing to drench three times a week through the farm dairy.

The research work also partnered with a pasture study from DairyNZ trials to examine whether using different pasture species reduced facial eczema risk.

'We found tall fescue and chicory could be options, although it needs to be a 100 per cent pure sward of each variety,” says Emma.