Facial eczema on long and short herbage

Abstract

In trials during the 1959–60 and 1960–1 seasons, counts of the spores of the fungus Pithomyces chartarum (Berk. & Curl.) M. B. Ellis were higher on short than on long pasture, and more liver damage occurred in lambs grazing the shorter herbage. No conclusions were reached on whether pre-treatments of the test areas, either by grazing or silage-making, affected the results. The results illustrate some of the difficulties in evaluating the effects of typical management practices, such as grazing or silage-making, as distinct from an atypical practice such as repeated gang-mowing, on the incidence and severity of facial eczema, particularly when weather and pasture conditions are unfavourable for outbreaks of the disease.