Welcome to our Facial Eczema Spore Count Bulletin for 2023 – this article will be updated each week, so please revisit to see what the spore count is in your area.
Shannon | Ihakara | Foxton | Moutoa | Waitarere | Levin | Kuku | Manakau | Otaki | Te Horo |
5,000 | 20,000 | 5,000 | 5,000 | 5,000 | 0 | 5,000 | 15,000 | 0 | 15,000 |
What is a toxic spore level? It is best not to use absolute levels, as stock grazing pasture with spore counts as low as 20,000-40,000 can sustain liver damage. More important considerations are rate of spore count rise, prevailing weather conditions, and grazing intensity at the time. Toxin effects on the liver are cumulative. Play it safe – start prevention as soon as spores are detected.
North and South sites have risen a little this week despite the colder mornings, but still are at lower levels than would warrant zinc treatments. We believe it will be safe to stop zinc treatments as the cool weather will likely continue.
The best recommendation is to spore count your own property to decide on whether you stop zinc treatments or not, as each property is different. Talk to the tech team if you have any questions as to how to collect the sample. Spore counting is $33 (incl GST) per sample, dropping to $26 for multiple samples.
Click Here for advice on facial eczema prevention.
If you have any questions pop into the clinic or give us a call on 06 368 2891 (Extension 1 for the farm team)
