Facial eczema on long and short herbage

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.