Get the zinc out - eczema around

Farmers should already be introducing zinc to their stock to combat facial eczema.

Inglewood vet Greg Hall said that even though spore counts, at 5000 to 10,000, remained low, farmers should be adding zinc to their water supplies so cows got used to the taste. They should also spray pasture when possible to keep spore numbers down.

Some areas had zero counts, but zinc should be introduced on farms prone to facial eczema. "And those farmers know who they are," Mr Hall said.

At Stratford, Taranaki Veterinary Centre vet Greta Baynes said the practice had already heard of a couple of possible cases of facial eczema, but they had not been confirmed.

The recent warm, moist, showery conditions encouraged spore growth.

"And there's more grass than usual, so there's more dead matter in the bottom sward of pasture where the fungus likes to live," Ms Baynes said.

"Farmers need to be spore counting and to start zinc treatment."

- © Fairfax NZ News