A COMBINATION of good luck and good management has seen the facial eczema high-risk season pass without any major outbreaks.
The long dry summer that reached well in to autumn created conditions that were unfavourable for facial eczema spore development.
When conditions in later autumn became both warm and moist, the facial eczema monitoring program was able to quickly identify potential “hot spots”.
Facial Eczema is a liver condition caused by cows eating a fungal spore that grows in pasture litter during warm and moist weather.
With little or nothing that can be done to prevent the fungus developing, preventative measures are vital to stop outbreaks among dairy herds.
GippsDairy and Dairy Australia recognised the need for increased vigilance against facial eczema outbreaks and developed a swift response system to alert farmers of danger signs.
A series of 23 sentinel farms have been established across Gippsland to help monitor spore levels.
Farms from Yannathan in West Gippsland down to Yanakie in the south and across to Bengworden in the east are the front-line in the battle against the disease.
Weekly spore counts from each property are posted on the Dairy Australia website, with local farms easily located through a clickable map.
GippsDairy project director Annette Zurrer said the sentinel farm system had proved its worth in the 2014 season.
“The aim is to provide an early warning system which can give farmers an indication that spore counts are beginning to rise in the area, and encourage them to take action early,” she said.
“Because of the sampling provided by the dedicated sentinel farmers, we were able to provide this warning and prevent severe health problems with dairy herds.” This year over 220 pasture samples were examined, including 120 samples from the Macalister Irrigation District, 54 from West Gippsland, 24 from the Yarram area and a slightly smaller number from South Gippsland.
With the dry summer, on some farms there was insufficient pasture available to collect samples for testing.
Fortunately, spore counts remained low over much of the summer/autumn period, with a slight rise in March and a slightly higher rise in April.
In April, in some areas, there were the combinations of warm nights and moisture which could favour the growth of the facial eczema spores, so more frequent monitoring was carried out during this month.
Apart from funding provided by GippsDairy and Dairy Australia, the sentinel farm program relies on dedicated volunteer farmers whose vigilance is the first line in the defence against facial eczema outbreaks in their districts.
“We really can't thank these farmers enough for taking the time to collect samples and send them for testing,” Annette said.
“This program is a great example of how the dairy services levy is being used to help farmers help themselves to control a herd health issue that can have a major impact on productivity.”
