AgriBusiness News September 2016

WAIKATO AGRIBUSINESS NEWS September 2016 5
Farmers flock to facial eczema tolerant genetics
Using CRV Ambreed’s facial eczema
tolerant bulls is just one of the things
Whakatane farmer Richard Sisam is doing
to help combat the disease on his farm.
“It’s one tool in the toolbox,”
Mr Sisam said. “We’ve
been using semen from
facial eczema tolerant bulls for
six years. We know for sure that
our tolerance levels are increasing.”
He also uses zinc on the
farm.
Mr Sisam considers facial
eczema a scourge. Facial eczema
causes liver damage and
results in reduced milk production
and, in severe cases, animal
deaths. Liver damage is caused
by sporidesmin toxin produced
by the pithomyces chartarum
fungus which thrives in hot and
humid weather.
Spore counts reached three
million in some parts of the
country this year, the highest
spore counts seen in a decade,
and many herds had a large
number of cows with sub-clinical
facial eczema.
“We’ve sold tens of thousands
of straws of semen from
facial eczema tolerant bulls -
around triple our sales last year
- following the worst facial eczema
season in years,” said CRV
Ambreed global grazing product
manager Peter van Elzakker.
Mr Sisam has seen how
breeding for facial eczema tolerance
has benefitted the sheep
sector of the agricultural industry
whose national flock is far
more tolerant than three decades
ago.
Waipa sheep farmer
Edward Dinger, winner of
three Beef+Lamb New Zealand
Sheep Industry Awards, said
facial eczema hit his district
hard last season, with the spore
count quadruple the levels seen
in most years.
“It was close to a million
spores per gram of grass,” Mr
Dinger said. “Genetics is certainly
part of the answer. “I have
been breeding facial eczema tolerant
sheep for 31 years.”
In similar conditions in 1981
Mr Dinger lost around a third
of his 2000 strong flock, but
last season he only lost about a
dozen of his flock of 600 sheep.
Over the past six years CRV
Ambreed has marketed facial
eczema tolerant Crossbred,
Friesian and Jersey teams, of
between six and eight animals
each.
“The team approach helps
managing the risk and creates
options,” Mr van Elzakker said.
“Every year we challenge
new prospect bulls and look for
individual bulls with improved
tolerance to increase overall tolerance
in dairy herds.”
More and more of CRV
Ambreed’s 150-strong bull catalogue
have increased facial
eczema tolerance and semen
from Holstein-Friesian bulls,
Glowing and Skylark, are selling
particularly well.
“If we can select bull dams
with high tolerance that goes a
long way to lifting the bar. We
expect our facial eczema tolerant
sires to be 25 percent less reactive
to a dose of facial eczema.”
Mr Dinger is watching CRV
Ambreed’s progress in breeding
facial eczema tolerant dairy cattle
with interest.
“You can breed facial eczema
tolerant cattle through progeny
testing. It’s a bigger and
more thorough process than
what we did with sheep, but it
takes longer."
Intelact vet and farm consultant
Chris Pyke said there was no
one solution that was completely
effective against facial eczema.
“If you can breed animals
that are more tolerant it becomes
part of a package.”
Te Awamutu-based VetEnt
large animal vet Emma Cuttance
completed her thesis on the
management of facial eczema
this year.
“Long-term we need to
be thinking about genetics or
pastures that reduce the risk of
facial eczema. CRV Ambreed is
quite rightly following the longterm
genetics option. In sheep
it has been successful. While it
is not 100 percent in very high
risk years, it is a massive step
in the right direction. Focusing
on genetics in combination with
pastures and crops that reduce
the risk will hopefully reduce
the need for zinc treatment or
fungicide treatment. Long-term,
this will be a better solution for
the environment.”
She said farmers needed to
be thinking 20 to 30 years in
advance about the gains that
could be made through genetics.
CRV Ambreed research
and development manager Phil
Beatson believes a genetic tool
is essential to combat facial
eczema in the long term.
“If global warming means
we are going to get these sorts of
devastating facial eczema events
more frequently and over an
increasing area of New Zealand,
it’s going to become an even
greater problem. It’s also quite
CATTLE
HOOFCARE
possible that use of a heavy
• Lame Cows
• Functional Trimming
metal, zinc, may be restricted in
the future. Everything points to
genetics offering the best longterm
sustainable solution to this
disease. Farmers need to be proactive
now.”
AgResearch geneticist Neil
Cullen has worked with CRV
Ambreed on facial eczema since
2002.
"Having personally experienced
facial eczema in the early
1970s on the family dairy farm,
I was always envious of the
genetic progress sheep farmers
have made fighting this serious
disease. Genetics really
was their only option given the
preventive/protective methods
available to dairy farmers were
not practical in a more extensive
system,” Mr Cullen said.
“We have developed a protocol
which safely tests bulls
for their level of tolerance and
have now completed six years of
testing without a single case of
clinical facial eczema in a total
of more than 250 bulls being
challenged. While the breeding
approach is not an overnight
solution, it does mean that the
average susceptibility of a herd
is reducing and the ongoing use
of zinc will be more effective in
providing protection."
CATTLE • Economical HOOFCARE
• Professional
ORAHIRI
Farm Services Ltd
Jeremy Connolly
021 • Lame 037 Cows 9949 • Functional Trimming
• Economical • Professional
Jeremy Connolly 021 037 9949
30320
Introducing Our Specialist Rural Law Teams
Meet the rural teams at Norris Ward McKinnon, dedicated to
helping you with your rural law matters, either on-farm or in our
office. We have specialist, practical first-hand experience in
agriculture and equine industries.
Equine Law
Rural Law
Martin
Bradley
Alice
Nunn
Advice on Ownership
Buying and Selling Horses
Syndication, Partnerships
Trusts, Companies
Breeding, Leasing
AI Agreements
Formation of Societies and Clubs
Horse Management and Welfare
Employment
Dispute Resolution
Farm Sale and Purchase
Business Structures
Farm Succession
Livestock
Fonterra Shares
Share Milking Agreements
Forestry
Horticulture & Viticulture
Farming Practices
Subdivisions
Barbara
McDermott
Paul
Barris
Shelly
Harrison
Jesse
Savage
Phone 07 834 6000
Odette
Cottle
Kathryn
Lamb
Phone: (07) 834 6000 711 Victoria Street, HAMILTON
Email: lawyers@nwm.co.nz 172 Main Street, HUNTLY
Web: www.nwm.co.nz