Farmers face another uphill battle

So much so that cattle entries, particularly in the dairy section, were impacted at Sydney Royal, with half a dozen confirmed cases on the showground.

Historically, cases of three-day sickness have not extended south beyond the Shoalhaven River at Nowra.

Pyree dairy farmers Tom and Kyleigh Cochrane identified the first case of three-day sickness on their property in early February.

It is the first time they have seen it on the property.

They milk 500 cows, and Mr Cochrane said the disease had swept through about 80 per cent of the herd with varying symptoms.

"We've had some cows look a little bit off for a day or so, to cows laying flat out on the ground, and they're done," he said.

Mr Cochrane said milk production was down 20 to 30 per cent, with about a dozen cows coming down with the sickness each day.

He puts it down to the humid weather conditions throughout the latter part of summer.

"That's why it has come further down the coast," he said.

"It's only going to be a weather pattern that slows it down."

Dairy farmer Tracey Russell, Brundee, said it had been a long, hard few months.

"We have been hit very hard as it doesn't usually get too far this side of the Shoalhaven River, so our cows have no immunity to it at all," she said.

Mrs Russell said it was just another physically and mentally draining thing to handle after a challenging few years battling extreme rain events.

"The big older cows seem to have had it the worst, but if any cows are slightly compromised, like heavy in calf or freshly calved, they just can't fight it," she said.

"I'm not looking forward to this month's vet bill as the anti-inflammatory drugs we give them to help are not cheap.

"The next issue is because they are down, they end up with mastitis, and some have even aborted their calves.

"It's devastating."

Three-day sickness impacted The Illawarra breed judging at this year's Sydney Royal.

Illawarra cattle were not represented in the pen of three in the interbreed competition, and numerous entries were withdrawn.

Royal Agriculture Society vice president and chair of the veterinarian committee Mark Schembri said there had only been half a dozen three-day sickness cases out of the close to 1000 beef and dairy cattle on show.

While three-day sickness has been rife in NSW, he said it was not at Sydney Royal.

In the lead-up to Sydney Royal, Mr Schembri said there had been a lot of information from government and farmers about three-day sickness, so they had time to prepare.

He said the committee was on standby for 16 days, including four days of preparation for the show and 12 days of the event with veterinarians and supplies for supportive medication.

'We had cows that might have spiked temperatures, but if there were no other clinical signs of coughing, scouring or mastitis, then we assume the process of elimination for three-day sickness," he said.

'There were half a dozen cases throughout the show, which have all recovered and done well."

It was a tough road to Sydney Royal for Camden dairy farmer Patrick Buckley as about 100 of his herd had gone down with three-day sickness.

It was so bad that he even lost some to the disease.

"I thought we had gone past it, but since we have been at the show, there have been a few more that have gone down with it," he said.

Despite that, a last-minute decision to bring freshly calved Sorella Gin and Tonic to Sydney Royal paid off when she was awarded Ayrshire senior female champion.

"So with the stress of that (three-day sickness) on farm and trying to get ready for this and cows calving, it's moments like this you have to savour," he said.

"It's hard not to get emotional."