North Island farmers are being advised to take precautions to protect their stock from facial eczema, as weather and growing conditions raise the risk levels.
The fungal disease breaks out in the North Island and upper South Island every summer and autumn, as spore levels build up in pasture.
In severe cases it can kill livestock and costs the farming sector millions of dollars a year in lost production and treatment.
Leo Cooney of AsureQuality, which monitors the facial eczema risk, says spore counts have risen across most of the North Island over the past two weeks.
He says farmers should be taking precautions now, by spraying pasture with fungicide, and treating stock with zinc sulphate.
