N.B. Company Installs Sensors At Dairy Farms To Better Manage Milk Quality
BUFFALO, N.Y. – Fredericton company SomaDetect has hit a major milestone as it begins the first of 28 installations of its Version 2 in-line milk monitoring system at Cornell University’s 600-cow dairy.
This means the company is a lot closer to having a commercially scalable model for its system that will better detect diseases, ensure milk quality, and manage reproduction in dairy cows, something it has been working on developing for the past year.
“It’s certainly a big step forward to being able to scale,” saidCEO Bethany Deshpande. “It’s our first time to be able to permanently install so many sensors. It’s a really exciting thing. This version of the sensor is manufacturable and it’s one we can make hundreds of, or even thousands if we need to.”
With this latest installation, SomaDetect has kickstarted its early adopter program. The technology will be installed in 28 dairy farms in New York, Ontario and Atlantic Canada. A quarter of them will be in Atlantic Canada, with around five or six in New Brunswick, a couple on P.E.I. and one in Nova Scotia.
The company will work with the farms over the next four months to complete product development, build case studies and improve the system for the entire industry.
“We want to get this version out there, collect feedback with our farmers, make sure everything is working exactly the way it’s supposed to, identify a few more ways to maximize the value of the technology and the sensor product, and then maybe we’ll do one more generation [of sensors],” said Deshpande. “But even the next generation won’t be as big of a step as this last one.”
The milestone comes after seven months of commercial validation and a data collection study at Cornell, where the system showed promising results in detecting somatic cell counts, reproductive markers, protein, fat, and other milk quality and health indicators in real time.
In August 2017, SomaDetect first announced the development of the technology, which the company says is a major innovation in the global dairy industry. The sensor detects the presence of progesterone, protein, fat trace antibiotics and somatic cell counts in raw milk without needing reagents or consumables.
Detecting the presence of progesterone in milk allows SomaDetect to provide dairy farmers with accurate information on when a cow is in heat and the optimum time to inseminate. About two-thirds of heats are undetected on dairy farms, the company says.
“With our sensors they’ll be able to better detect diseases, to better ensure milk quality, and then to manage reproduction on their farms better as well – all huge, key benefits for them in their operations,” said Deshpande.
It certainly means the ability to better control what goes into their full tank to make a higher revenue and lower the cost of production of that milk, so it’s really good savings for them.”
Deshpande said the milestone is an achievement not only for the SomaDetect team but also for the dairy farmers that have worked with the company since its early days.
“These are the people that taught us about dairy farming and has seen us have so many different versions of the sensor. So, this isn’t just an important milestone and a big win for our team, but I think it’s really also a key win and a really nice thing to be doing with the dairy farmers,” she said.
“I feel incredibly proud of the team for pulling this off. I feel incredibly thankful for the support we’ve got from our dairy farmers. And our early adopter farms are essentially partners with us in really getting this to the finish line, getting to the commercial stage.”
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