In all articles on facial eczema I’ve read, only the symptoms are dealt with – never the causes. The causes are simple: monoculture farming practices, usually through following institutionalised advice.

That’s great for the country and a myriad of other businesses, but rarely does the individual farmer any good. Innovation does not come from institutionalism, but from outside it. Urea, superphosphate and other acid fertilisers bombarding the soil and soil life is the root cause of the problem.

Monoculture and its inherent flaws is the end product. There is not enough investment in the right direction to balance the equation. Balanced soil grows healthy pasture. Healthy pasture produces healthy stock. Healthy animals produce more.

Have you have noticed a plethora of problems with pastures and animals that were not evident a generation or two ago? It’s well past the time to do somethings differently. Kiwi Fertiliser can’t fix the problems overnight, but we can fix them given time.

Colin Campbell of Waikite, Rotorua, sent his pasture samples away to the vets in February 2016 to have facial eczema spore counts done. No spores were found. Colin is an ex-dairy farmer, now a grazier of dairy heifers. Colin’s neighbours’ stock was severely affected, but his stock was not. Colin is only one example of many farmers’ we work with not being affected by facial eczema.

Problems fade away

Colin’s Kiwi Fertiliser consultant has been balancing the soil fertility for four years. Soil test results from Perry Agricultural Laboratories and Kinsey Agricultural Services manuals show us exactly what to aim for. We find when the soil is correctly balanced, problems such as facial eczema, army worm, black beetle, grass grub, porina and whatever else you care to name, just fade away.

A deer farmer has now reached the conclusion he does not have to drench the hinds. The correct magnesium applications to the soil are responsible for that, but only as one part of a complex programme. It has taken five years for enough of this property to be ‘futureproofed’ to enable that decision to be made with confidence.

Each fertiliser mix has to match the soil test. Even the products used are important. Some work. Some don’t, and some are in between. Cheapest rarely works best. ‘One size fits all’ is an expensive myth.

Acid fertilisers

The need to drench, dip and dag all increase when acid fertilisers are used. Stock health problems are caused by poor fertiliser practices. Pests and diseases thrive in anaerobic and acidic conditions. Stock are much healthier and productive on an aerobic soil at pH of 6.4, than 5.9. At 6.4, good microbes predominate over the bad.

Futureproofing is preparing your property for adverse events and includes resilience to heat, cold, droughts, floods, insect attack, parasites, fungal diseases, bacterial diseases, plague and pestilence.

It all starts in the soil. Once transitioned, plants grown on a truly balanced soil are healthier and more productive. In turn the pastures fully nourish the animals. Those animals have far stronger immune systems and actually expel parasites without further assistance.

They grow faster. You can buy in infested or infected stock and those animals will self-heal in a matter of weeks. When the soil is healthy – and most are not – the microbial life flourishes. Each fungal or bacterial species cannot get out of balance. The more variety there is, the better the system works. Everything ends up in equilibrium. To that end, the type of fertiliser you use is critical. Goodbye facial eczema.