March 10, 2026 • 17 mins
Facial eczema can cause big headaches on the farm. Because the signs aren’t always obvious, it can creep up on you and end up costing a lot - both in production and in animal health.
In the first episode of a new podcast series from Beef + Lamb New Zealand and The Country, Hamish McKay sits down with Principal Scientist Cara Brosnahan and Senior Advisor farmer engagement Kristin Kirkpatrick. They break down what facial eczema is, what causes it, the risks for your stock, and why planning ahead is the best way to protect your animals. They also explain why this isn’t just a North Island issue anymore.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Wow MythBusters the Facial Extra Edition with Beef and Lamb,
New Zealand powered by the Country.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
I'm Hamish Mackay and today's podcast episode is your essential
crash course on facial x ME, brought to you by
the great team at Beef and Lamb. Yes, facial x ma,
what is it? What are its effects? What do we
need to know? How can we best deal with it?
And I'll tell you what. The best approach, it seems
(00:30):
with so many of these things, is just to engage
a little one oh one as we work our way
through the sort of postgraduate level. But we can do
that over the process of a podcast. And all this
comes from the Eliminating Facial XMA Impacts Program which has
been seven years have worked now our team today of course,
(00:51):
who have been working on this EFEI program. We start
off with our principal scientists and in coming to us
from the mighty Munuatuara Brosenhankara, how.
Speaker 3 (01:01):
Are you great?
Speaker 4 (01:02):
Thank you great to have.
Speaker 2 (01:04):
You coming from the sunny mantal with two where I
am also for the recording of this particular episode and
Kristen Kirkpatrick, now you a little bit chillier down require
away is it.
Speaker 4 (01:15):
It sure is a bit fresh out there today.
Speaker 2 (01:17):
How much what are you seeing sort of out Mount Hutway.
Apparently you can ski you with somebody.
Speaker 4 (01:22):
I might have mentioned not a scare myself, but she
is looking quite majestic.
Speaker 2 (01:29):
Oh fantastic of course. Kristen, Senior Advisor, Farmer Engagement and Partnerships.
As we as we borrow into this, we get to
the bottom of facial exma. Going to start with you, Kara,
what exactly is facial xma and why is it such
a serious disease for our grazing animals and the sector.
Speaker 3 (01:48):
Yes, so, facially SMA is actually a disease of the
liver and it affects a wide range of grazing livestock
stocks are not just sheep and cattle, but also dare
alpacker love and to a lesser extent, goat, so it
is quite wide ranging. It happens when livestock eat pasture
containing a toxic fungal species that produces fungal spores, and
(02:13):
this toxin causes liver and bile duct damage, which obviously,
if your animal is not you know, it doesn't have
a good functioning liver, then it's going to have problems
worth production, so weight loss drop and milk production reduce scanning.
And so how this liver damage then actually gets translated
into something called facial exma is that the liver can't
(02:37):
break down the products from the chlorophyll or the green
part of the plant that it's eating, so it can't
break it down that normally, and then that leads to
that sunburn and those obvious signs of the disease, which
is why it's called facial exma. And yeah, it's a
really harsh disease causing pain and suffering to the animals,
and it can actually reduce the lifetime of that product
(03:00):
of the animal twenty five percent. So it's pretty massive
and estimates by the Beef and Land New Zealand Economic
Service Team estimated to cost on average three hundred and
thirty two million dollars annually due to this loss production.
So it is a big issue for the animals as
well as that production lost.
Speaker 2 (03:19):
Yeah, Houston, we've got a problem, have we When it's
those kind of numbers, just let's just touch on because
you know, we see the swallen airs of the sunburn
or the look and we go, oh, that looks pretty
pretty gnarly, but often there isn't obvious physical symptoms.
Speaker 3 (03:34):
Not always, and that's kind of part of the problem
with facial exma is that you see one animal and
the paddock and you're like, oh, I've got facial exma,
But actually that could mean up to ten other animals
and your herd or your flock have those subclinical signs
of the disease, which is, you know, cause it in
that loss production and pain and discomfort. So yeah, it's
a big problem.
Speaker 2 (03:55):
Kristin, what's something genuinely cool or fascinating about the the
fe fungus or the tops and that farmers would find
surprise and that causes this problem.
Speaker 4 (04:04):
I love this question, Hamish, because science is actually so cool.
So it was always thought that the fungus that causes
bordesmond was something called fudopithem ICE's charter, and through one
of the research prog projects in our program, our amazing
scientist doctor Bevan Ware and Christine Boyse and their team
(04:26):
discovered that that's actually not the case. So I like
to call it the evil twin because it makes it
so much more fun to tell the story. But this
new guy, fudopithm ICE's toxicariis is very identical under the microscope,
but through the use of DNA technologies, they've actually been
able to distinguish the difference and that it's him not
(04:47):
charter in which is the problem. So this is like
a massive breakthrough on understanding the fungi and it just
shows how cool science and advancement of technology is. And
what this really mean for us is that we can
look at the development of new tools around that knowledge
to eliminate the impact of social exma.
Speaker 2 (05:09):
It's incredible, isn't it. I mean that that is just
fascinating that in the year twenty twenty six, I think
that's where we are, we're making these breakthroughs, isn't that?
Isn't that just such brilliant news.
Speaker 4 (05:20):
Oh, I think it's fabulous And yeah, just great for
the farmers, great for the vets and everybody to have
that deeper understanding of what's happening at that microscopic level.
Speaker 2 (05:31):
We've and we've caught out the nari guy. We've nailed
and we're onto it. That is fantastic. Car just want
to make sure they've got that right. So subclinical facial
x me as we just can't see that you know,
don't ignore what you can't see because it could be there.
Speaker 3 (05:45):
Yeah, pretty much, that is exactly the message. And if
you don't know that it's there, then you can't plan
for that next facial XMA season. So you might be
losing that productivity year on year without realizing it.
Speaker 2 (05:58):
Car What does the data tell us now about where
facial exmouth spores are being detected around the country.
Speaker 3 (06:04):
Yeah, so it's traditionally facial exma has been very much
a North Island problem. I mean I grew up on
a shedan beef farm in South Canterbury and wasn't an
issue for us then. But more recently it has changed
in that distribution. And at the moment we've got a
sheeppoo study being undertaken and it's a it's third and
(06:25):
final year where we've got farmers around the country sending
in sheeppoo samples to anoy veternory every two weeks for
testing to find those spores.
Speaker 4 (06:35):
And what we've.
Speaker 3 (06:36):
Seen is that over the last two years we've found
spores consistently from the Otago region up to Northland and
every region in between, and clinical facial xmith has been
reported from the top of the South Island up to
Northland as well, so you know, we know it's not
a North Island problem, and we know there are spores
(06:58):
widespread across the country now and that is due to
the environment changing and now this fungus can actually grows
in areas that previously it couldn't. So yeah, it's better
to know this knowledge so that we can be prepared.
Speaker 2 (07:11):
Kristin, would you say that probably still are South Island
farmers who might be of the way of thinking that
it isn't their problem, And what would you say to
someone who still believes it won't happen there, because we're
maybe we're not just seeing the physical signs, but it
is actually taking hold. Yeah.
Speaker 4 (07:28):
So, as Kara said, we've had clinical report right through
the top of the South and the last season of
the sheep who've study especially, and we've identified sports in
the South Island, so they're there. When I was an
extension manager for Beef and Lamb looking after the North
Canterbury area, I had a farmer at a workshop share
a kill sheet where the results it indicated back to
(07:51):
him if he in the livers of a line of
lamb sea it's seen. So I just think it's really
important to be eyes up and looking ahead at what
it could becoming your way.
Speaker 2 (08:01):
Cart When should we be most alerted and you know,
obviously I guess there's a sort of that traditional January
May window which is pretty critical.
Speaker 3 (08:09):
Yeah, absolutely, and it really is that period when you
need to be on high alert. So that is when
the conditions are right for the fungi to grow and
also produce those spores, so that fungy needs warm, humid weather.
And in the sheephoof study as well, was seeing that
right until the end of May, those spores can be
quite elevated, so that's quite a long season really, right.
Speaker 2 (08:33):
Tools and on farm detection start with you Christin. When
farmers want to understand how to monitor the risk, what
are the simplest, most powerful tools they can start using
straight away?
Speaker 4 (08:46):
Yeah, so I think straight away being aware of what
your regional spore counts are doing is really important. So
you've got VET clinics, especially in the North Island, who
will be monitoring and reporting that quite regularly to their clients.
Our WinUI labs do a report of regional sport counts
and we actually use that data through our text service
(09:09):
to alert people to facial EXMA, So you can go
on to the Beef and Lamb website through your login
and your subscriptions and subscribe to regional text alert. So
what we we're trying to encourage people to do is
keep monitoring and using those regional counts as a trigger.
So if your region is looking at twenty thousand spores
(09:29):
per gram, you probably want to use that as your
little level to go ahead and find out what's happening
on your own farm.
Speaker 2 (09:38):
Any tips for you know, other easy, reliable ways farmers
can keep an eye on their on farm risk.
Speaker 3 (09:44):
Yeah, So I think one of the most important things is,
you know, after you've looked at those regional counts and
as Christian said, if they're coming up to twenty thousand
dollars program, they're actually doing some monitoring on your own farms.
Between farms, even within farms can be so a variable.
So just because your regional score counts are really high
doesn't necessarily mean yours will be. So that's really important
(10:08):
to actually take some measurements on your own farm and
understand your risk on your farm, but definitely using those
regional counts first to trig you to be able to
do that. As well. The other thing is keeping an
eye on that weather. As I said, it needs to
be warm and humid for that fungy to grow. So
when the nighttime temperatures stay above about twelve degrees and
(10:29):
humidity is high, that's when you know that, okay, this
is good weather for fungy to grow. So really should
go out and do some testing for myself.
Speaker 2 (10:38):
Okay. In terms of management a sport, counts are rising,
christ and what are the key actions that farmers need
to take sort of straight away from from one oh
one through.
Speaker 4 (10:49):
Yeah, So you know, just reiterating what kr is said,
having an understanding of maybe where your risk is on
farm and what thatening, Where are your high risk products?
You want to ensure that your stock have accessed to
shade shelter. Thinking ahead with that grazing management and monitoring
your grazing residuals, especially if you are a rye grass
(11:12):
dominant in your pasture, and we'd probably even suggest, you know,
if you can chuck a bit of supplementary feed in
there to sort of dilute it down. You can use
zinc as a preventative management tool, and it's got its limitations,
so we'd recommend that you'd talk to your vet.
Speaker 2 (11:29):
Carl when just breeding for tolerance fit in and how
much of an impact can it make over time.
Speaker 3 (11:36):
Yeah, so breeding is obviously that longer term solution because
it's not going to be that you introduce something one
season and it's going to be there. So thinking about
if you're in a high risk area or you think
you might becoming in a high risk area, breeding for
f E tolerance is a really good option because it
gives that permanent, long term protection in those games at
(11:57):
our peach year, So it is a really important strategy
for fighting facial ex man sheep industry really, they're really
lucky because there have been a lot of breeders who
have been investing in this since nineteen eighties to provide
those f tolerant animals. So there are a lot of
people that you can go and talk to, and a
good start is to look at improve to look up
(12:18):
to see what breeders are doing this and how to
contact them. But also it's really cool because their cattle
industry have been doing this as well more recently and
so there are actually cattle available. So definitely talk to
your breeding companies as well when.
Speaker 2 (12:34):
You're out and about and start with you, Christen and
your travels and conversations with farmers. What's one moment or
a story or moment that comes to mind that makes
you you think, this is exactly why we are doing
this work.
Speaker 4 (12:48):
Yeah. For me, it's a bit of an accumulation of
moments because I've got the incredible privilege to talk to
farmers across the country from different farm systems that are
farming different lives, stock species, and dig into their experiences
with facial EXMA. So I think for me, it's really
how many farmers knew about f E, Like they'd heard
(13:11):
a whisper or someone on a farm a few k's
away have had it, but it wasn't until they experienced
an outbreak for themselves did they really understand the true
impact that the disease could have. And you know, my
colleague Ange and I have heard some pretty difficult experiences.
So yeah, really just knowing through this program we can help,
(13:33):
like today, build awareness, that's really the why we're doing
this for me.
Speaker 2 (13:39):
Yeah, Cal, what about you? What's the sort of light
bulb moments?
Speaker 3 (13:43):
Yeah, I mean, just reiterating what Christen said, there's some
you know, again, had the opportunity to talk to a
lot of farmers who have been really open with us
about their experiences, and it's just horrible to listen to
and it is really quite an emotional disease when people
have been through this outbreak. So if we can help
these people either avoid those outbreaks altogether or at least
(14:05):
have really good support to be able to overcome them quickly,
that is that's definitely why this program's really important.
Speaker 2 (14:13):
Yeah. Absolutely. Now, I just want to revisit a couple
of points, Cara, what's the what was the percentage drop
or the cost to productivity that we know of with
facial exma, How brutal it is to the bottom line
to the country.
Speaker 3 (14:25):
Yeah, so it is on average three hundred and thirty
two million dollars annually, and that is across the sector,
so obviously not just sheep or not just cattle, but yeah,
it's massive.
Speaker 2 (14:37):
That is a massive number. And Kristin, now, what was
the name of the bad, bad guy fungi? Again, that's
that we've discovered in twenty twenty six, so that we
can take some decent action.
Speaker 4 (14:48):
He's got a really catchy name and it's Toxicarius. So
Toxicarius is the toxic toxin toxicarius.
Speaker 2 (14:57):
I mean almost sounds like a decent name for a
race source, even a baddy toxy carries. Yeah. Sorry, okay, rightyo, Christy,
just give us one small step one, you know, like
out of the blocks. What's one sort of simple and
effective step that a farmer should take facing and to
reduce that FIE risk.
Speaker 4 (15:17):
Look, I just really think start at the spores, So
use your regional sport count and then ask the question
is fee having an impact on my farm?
Speaker 2 (15:28):
Simple? And do you still I just wonder whether you
know because I grew up in the northern man i
or to right humor, I know all about this facial
thing going back, you know, but I yeah, is there
still a bit of a need to sort of push
it through to those who might not think they're being affected?
Speaker 4 (15:47):
Oh? For sure, I think it's It's one of those
ones that you want to be sort of vigilant, vigilant
about in keeping up to date because we've got this
program with the farings and be a part of developing
tools and solutions.
Speaker 2 (16:04):
With us fantastic team. It has been an absolute privilege
to talk to you both. Principal scientists Kara Brosnahan out
of the matter with two today Kristin Kirkpatrick out of
require Senior Advisor Farmer Engagement and Partnership, and some wonderful
information in there about what is a nationwide let's just
call it CAPE bring it to the bluff problem facial
(16:26):
exma and for today farmers, you know there is the information,
the technology, the process to deal to this and we
really want you to know that it's serious and of
course where it's found. South Island can't ignore it anymore
when it happens that January to May window. We've just
got to really keep an eye on that. Timing matters
(16:47):
in terms of sport accounts, etc. And how you can
detect it early. And the fact that there is a
very good facial EXMA management toolbox there for you to utilize.
Kara and Kristin, thank you very much, Thank you, thank
you very much to our team from Beef and lamb
in Zid. The principal signed as car of Rosenahan and
(17:08):
Senior Advisor Farmer Engagement and Partnerships Kristen Kirkpatrick. If you
want to know more, go to the website Beeflambinzid dot com.
Speaker 1 (17:18):
Wow, MythBusters the Facial Extra Edition with beef and lamb.
New Zealand powered by the Country
Wow MythBusters the Facial Extra Edition with Beef and Lamb,
New Zealand powered by the Country.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
I'm Hamish Mackay and today's podcast episode is your essential
crash course on facial x ME, brought to you by
the great team at Beef and Lamb. Yes, facial x ma,
what is it? What are its effects? What do we
need to know? How can we best deal with it?
And I'll tell you what. The best approach, it seems
(00:30):
with so many of these things, is just to engage
a little one oh one as we work our way
through the sort of postgraduate level. But we can do
that over the process of a podcast. And all this
comes from the Eliminating Facial XMA Impacts Program which has
been seven years have worked now our team today of course,
(00:51):
who have been working on this EFEI program. We start
off with our principal scientists and in coming to us
from the mighty Munuatuara Brosenhankara, how.
Speaker 3 (01:01):
Are you great?
Speaker 4 (01:02):
Thank you great to have.
Speaker 2 (01:04):
You coming from the sunny mantal with two where I
am also for the recording of this particular episode and
Kristen Kirkpatrick, now you a little bit chillier down require
away is it.
Speaker 4 (01:15):
It sure is a bit fresh out there today.
Speaker 2 (01:17):
How much what are you seeing sort of out Mount Hutway.
Apparently you can ski you with somebody.
Speaker 4 (01:22):
I might have mentioned not a scare myself, but she
is looking quite majestic.
Speaker 2 (01:29):
Oh fantastic of course. Kristen, Senior Advisor, Farmer Engagement and Partnerships.
As we as we borrow into this, we get to
the bottom of facial exma. Going to start with you, Kara,
what exactly is facial xma and why is it such
a serious disease for our grazing animals and the sector.
Speaker 3 (01:48):
Yes, so, facially SMA is actually a disease of the
liver and it affects a wide range of grazing livestock
stocks are not just sheep and cattle, but also dare
alpacker love and to a lesser extent, goat, so it
is quite wide ranging. It happens when livestock eat pasture
containing a toxic fungal species that produces fungal spores, and
(02:13):
this toxin causes liver and bile duct damage, which obviously,
if your animal is not you know, it doesn't have
a good functioning liver, then it's going to have problems
worth production, so weight loss drop and milk production reduce scanning.
And so how this liver damage then actually gets translated
into something called facial exma is that the liver can't
(02:37):
break down the products from the chlorophyll or the green
part of the plant that it's eating, so it can't
break it down that normally, and then that leads to
that sunburn and those obvious signs of the disease, which
is why it's called facial exma. And yeah, it's a
really harsh disease causing pain and suffering to the animals,
and it can actually reduce the lifetime of that product
(03:00):
of the animal twenty five percent. So it's pretty massive
and estimates by the Beef and Land New Zealand Economic
Service Team estimated to cost on average three hundred and
thirty two million dollars annually due to this loss production.
So it is a big issue for the animals as
well as that production lost.
Speaker 2 (03:19):
Yeah, Houston, we've got a problem, have we When it's
those kind of numbers, just let's just touch on because
you know, we see the swallen airs of the sunburn
or the look and we go, oh, that looks pretty
pretty gnarly, but often there isn't obvious physical symptoms.
Speaker 3 (03:34):
Not always, and that's kind of part of the problem
with facial exma is that you see one animal and
the paddock and you're like, oh, I've got facial exma,
But actually that could mean up to ten other animals
and your herd or your flock have those subclinical signs
of the disease, which is, you know, cause it in
that loss production and pain and discomfort. So yeah, it's
a big problem.
Speaker 2 (03:55):
Kristin, what's something genuinely cool or fascinating about the the
fe fungus or the tops and that farmers would find
surprise and that causes this problem.
Speaker 4 (04:04):
I love this question, Hamish, because science is actually so cool.
So it was always thought that the fungus that causes
bordesmond was something called fudopithem ICE's charter, and through one
of the research prog projects in our program, our amazing
scientist doctor Bevan Ware and Christine Boyse and their team
(04:26):
discovered that that's actually not the case. So I like
to call it the evil twin because it makes it
so much more fun to tell the story. But this
new guy, fudopithm ICE's toxicariis is very identical under the microscope,
but through the use of DNA technologies, they've actually been
able to distinguish the difference and that it's him not
(04:47):
charter in which is the problem. So this is like
a massive breakthrough on understanding the fungi and it just
shows how cool science and advancement of technology is. And
what this really mean for us is that we can
look at the development of new tools around that knowledge
to eliminate the impact of social exma.
Speaker 2 (05:09):
It's incredible, isn't it. I mean that that is just
fascinating that in the year twenty twenty six, I think
that's where we are, we're making these breakthroughs, isn't that?
Isn't that just such brilliant news.
Speaker 4 (05:20):
Oh, I think it's fabulous And yeah, just great for
the farmers, great for the vets and everybody to have
that deeper understanding of what's happening at that microscopic level.
Speaker 2 (05:31):
We've and we've caught out the nari guy. We've nailed
and we're onto it. That is fantastic. Car just want
to make sure they've got that right. So subclinical facial
x me as we just can't see that you know,
don't ignore what you can't see because it could be there.
Speaker 3 (05:45):
Yeah, pretty much, that is exactly the message. And if
you don't know that it's there, then you can't plan
for that next facial XMA season. So you might be
losing that productivity year on year without realizing it.
Speaker 2 (05:58):
Car What does the data tell us now about where
facial exmouth spores are being detected around the country.
Speaker 3 (06:04):
Yeah, so it's traditionally facial exma has been very much
a North Island problem. I mean I grew up on
a shedan beef farm in South Canterbury and wasn't an
issue for us then. But more recently it has changed
in that distribution. And at the moment we've got a
sheeppoo study being undertaken and it's a it's third and
(06:25):
final year where we've got farmers around the country sending
in sheeppoo samples to anoy veternory every two weeks for
testing to find those spores.
Speaker 4 (06:35):
And what we've.
Speaker 3 (06:36):
Seen is that over the last two years we've found
spores consistently from the Otago region up to Northland and
every region in between, and clinical facial xmith has been
reported from the top of the South Island up to
Northland as well, so you know, we know it's not
a North Island problem, and we know there are spores
(06:58):
widespread across the country now and that is due to
the environment changing and now this fungus can actually grows
in areas that previously it couldn't. So yeah, it's better
to know this knowledge so that we can be prepared.
Speaker 2 (07:11):
Kristin, would you say that probably still are South Island
farmers who might be of the way of thinking that
it isn't their problem, And what would you say to
someone who still believes it won't happen there, because we're
maybe we're not just seeing the physical signs, but it
is actually taking hold. Yeah.
Speaker 4 (07:28):
So, as Kara said, we've had clinical report right through
the top of the South and the last season of
the sheep who've study especially, and we've identified sports in
the South Island, so they're there. When I was an
extension manager for Beef and Lamb looking after the North
Canterbury area, I had a farmer at a workshop share
a kill sheet where the results it indicated back to
(07:51):
him if he in the livers of a line of
lamb sea it's seen. So I just think it's really
important to be eyes up and looking ahead at what
it could becoming your way.
Speaker 2 (08:01):
Cart When should we be most alerted and you know,
obviously I guess there's a sort of that traditional January
May window which is pretty critical.
Speaker 3 (08:09):
Yeah, absolutely, and it really is that period when you
need to be on high alert. So that is when
the conditions are right for the fungi to grow and
also produce those spores, so that fungy needs warm, humid weather.
And in the sheephoof study as well, was seeing that
right until the end of May, those spores can be
quite elevated, so that's quite a long season really, right.
Speaker 2 (08:33):
Tools and on farm detection start with you Christin. When
farmers want to understand how to monitor the risk, what
are the simplest, most powerful tools they can start using
straight away?
Speaker 4 (08:46):
Yeah, so I think straight away being aware of what
your regional spore counts are doing is really important. So
you've got VET clinics, especially in the North Island, who
will be monitoring and reporting that quite regularly to their clients.
Our WinUI labs do a report of regional sport counts
and we actually use that data through our text service
(09:09):
to alert people to facial EXMA, So you can go
on to the Beef and Lamb website through your login
and your subscriptions and subscribe to regional text alert. So
what we we're trying to encourage people to do is
keep monitoring and using those regional counts as a trigger.
So if your region is looking at twenty thousand spores
(09:29):
per gram, you probably want to use that as your
little level to go ahead and find out what's happening
on your own farm.
Speaker 2 (09:38):
Any tips for you know, other easy, reliable ways farmers
can keep an eye on their on farm risk.
Speaker 3 (09:44):
Yeah, So I think one of the most important things is,
you know, after you've looked at those regional counts and
as Christian said, if they're coming up to twenty thousand
dollars program, they're actually doing some monitoring on your own farms.
Between farms, even within farms can be so a variable.
So just because your regional score counts are really high
doesn't necessarily mean yours will be. So that's really important
(10:08):
to actually take some measurements on your own farm and
understand your risk on your farm, but definitely using those
regional counts first to trig you to be able to
do that. As well. The other thing is keeping an
eye on that weather. As I said, it needs to
be warm and humid for that fungy to grow. So
when the nighttime temperatures stay above about twelve degrees and
(10:29):
humidity is high, that's when you know that, okay, this
is good weather for fungy to grow. So really should
go out and do some testing for myself.
Speaker 2 (10:38):
Okay. In terms of management a sport, counts are rising,
christ and what are the key actions that farmers need
to take sort of straight away from from one oh
one through.
Speaker 4 (10:49):
Yeah, So you know, just reiterating what kr is said,
having an understanding of maybe where your risk is on
farm and what thatening, Where are your high risk products?
You want to ensure that your stock have accessed to
shade shelter. Thinking ahead with that grazing management and monitoring
your grazing residuals, especially if you are a rye grass
(11:12):
dominant in your pasture, and we'd probably even suggest, you know,
if you can chuck a bit of supplementary feed in
there to sort of dilute it down. You can use
zinc as a preventative management tool, and it's got its limitations,
so we'd recommend that you'd talk to your vet.
Speaker 2 (11:29):
Carl when just breeding for tolerance fit in and how
much of an impact can it make over time.
Speaker 3 (11:36):
Yeah, so breeding is obviously that longer term solution because
it's not going to be that you introduce something one
season and it's going to be there. So thinking about
if you're in a high risk area or you think
you might becoming in a high risk area, breeding for
f E tolerance is a really good option because it
gives that permanent, long term protection in those games at
(11:57):
our peach year, So it is a really important strategy
for fighting facial ex man sheep industry really, they're really
lucky because there have been a lot of breeders who
have been investing in this since nineteen eighties to provide
those f tolerant animals. So there are a lot of
people that you can go and talk to, and a
good start is to look at improve to look up
(12:18):
to see what breeders are doing this and how to
contact them. But also it's really cool because their cattle
industry have been doing this as well more recently and
so there are actually cattle available. So definitely talk to
your breeding companies as well when.
Speaker 2 (12:34):
You're out and about and start with you, Christen and
your travels and conversations with farmers. What's one moment or
a story or moment that comes to mind that makes
you you think, this is exactly why we are doing
this work.
Speaker 4 (12:48):
Yeah. For me, it's a bit of an accumulation of
moments because I've got the incredible privilege to talk to
farmers across the country from different farm systems that are
farming different lives, stock species, and dig into their experiences
with facial EXMA. So I think for me, it's really
how many farmers knew about f E, Like they'd heard
(13:11):
a whisper or someone on a farm a few k's
away have had it, but it wasn't until they experienced
an outbreak for themselves did they really understand the true
impact that the disease could have. And you know, my
colleague Ange and I have heard some pretty difficult experiences.
So yeah, really just knowing through this program we can help,
(13:33):
like today, build awareness, that's really the why we're doing
this for me.
Speaker 2 (13:39):
Yeah, Cal, what about you? What's the sort of light
bulb moments?
Speaker 3 (13:43):
Yeah, I mean, just reiterating what Christen said, there's some
you know, again, had the opportunity to talk to a
lot of farmers who have been really open with us
about their experiences, and it's just horrible to listen to
and it is really quite an emotional disease when people
have been through this outbreak. So if we can help
these people either avoid those outbreaks altogether or at least
(14:05):
have really good support to be able to overcome them quickly,
that is that's definitely why this program's really important.
Speaker 2 (14:13):
Yeah. Absolutely. Now, I just want to revisit a couple
of points, Cara, what's the what was the percentage drop
or the cost to productivity that we know of with
facial exma, How brutal it is to the bottom line
to the country.
Speaker 3 (14:25):
Yeah, so it is on average three hundred and thirty
two million dollars annually, and that is across the sector,
so obviously not just sheep or not just cattle, but yeah,
it's massive.
Speaker 2 (14:37):
That is a massive number. And Kristin, now, what was
the name of the bad, bad guy fungi? Again, that's
that we've discovered in twenty twenty six, so that we
can take some decent action.
Speaker 4 (14:48):
He's got a really catchy name and it's Toxicarius. So
Toxicarius is the toxic toxin toxicarius.
Speaker 2 (14:57):
I mean almost sounds like a decent name for a
race source, even a baddy toxy carries. Yeah. Sorry, okay, rightyo, Christy,
just give us one small step one, you know, like
out of the blocks. What's one sort of simple and
effective step that a farmer should take facing and to
reduce that FIE risk.
Speaker 4 (15:17):
Look, I just really think start at the spores, So
use your regional sport count and then ask the question
is fee having an impact on my farm?
Speaker 2 (15:28):
Simple? And do you still I just wonder whether you
know because I grew up in the northern man i
or to right humor, I know all about this facial
thing going back, you know, but I yeah, is there
still a bit of a need to sort of push
it through to those who might not think they're being affected?
Speaker 4 (15:47):
Oh? For sure, I think it's It's one of those
ones that you want to be sort of vigilant, vigilant
about in keeping up to date because we've got this
program with the farings and be a part of developing
tools and solutions.
Speaker 2 (16:04):
With us fantastic team. It has been an absolute privilege
to talk to you both. Principal scientists Kara Brosnahan out
of the matter with two today Kristin Kirkpatrick out of
require Senior Advisor Farmer Engagement and Partnership, and some wonderful
information in there about what is a nationwide let's just
call it CAPE bring it to the bluff problem facial
(16:26):
exma and for today farmers, you know there is the information,
the technology, the process to deal to this and we
really want you to know that it's serious and of
course where it's found. South Island can't ignore it anymore
when it happens that January to May window. We've just
got to really keep an eye on that. Timing matters
(16:47):
in terms of sport accounts, etc. And how you can
detect it early. And the fact that there is a
very good facial EXMA management toolbox there for you to utilize.
Kara and Kristin, thank you very much, Thank you, thank
you very much to our team from Beef and lamb
in Zid. The principal signed as car of Rosenahan and
(17:08):
Senior Advisor Farmer Engagement and Partnerships Kristen Kirkpatrick. If you
want to know more, go to the website Beeflambinzid dot com.
Speaker 1 (17:18):
Wow, MythBusters the Facial Extra Edition with beef and lamb.
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