"MastCoud combines various technologies so that not only somatic cells and mastitis management are possible at €0.03/test. Also milk composition is measured i.e. fat content, protein content, solids, pH, conductivity and certain adulteration can be detected. With the open data collection and collaboration platform in the Cloud, MastCloud and Ekomilk will also facilitate exchange of data in the dairy supply chain, beyond Ekomilk, beyond MastCloud.
Our innovation is relevant for most of the dairy producers: small farms, mid-size and large farms; bovine, ovine, caprine or other; mixed farms or pure dairy farms. Our innovation is crucial and even disruptive for bovine dairy farms, which are confronted with sizeable economic consequences of (sub) clinical mastitis: from reduced milk production and discarded milk to treatment and labour costs and the loss of milk quality bonuses (or penalties) besides clinical mastitis costs. As an example (excerpt, UK figures):
“[…] in recent years there is strong evidence that clinical mastitis has been rising. The rate is currently estimated at between 50 and 70 mastitis cases per 100 cows per year. […]""The average cost of a clinical case of mastitis is €250 to €400,"" … ""
http://www.dairyco.org.uk/technical-information/animal-health-welfare/mastitis/recordstools/target-scc-improving-milk-quality/(opens in new window)That means mastitis costs the average 100 cow herd €14,000 a year for clinical cases alone. There will also be additional losses from sub-clinical effects such as SCC penalties, yield loss and secondary health effects. Mastitis continues to cost the industry millions of pounds each year and creates real animal welfare issues.”5
“Dairy production losses across Europe are estimated to be € 1.1 billion annually. In the US, mastitis is estimated to cost US dairy farmers US $1.7 billion annually, or approximately US $200 per cow.”
http://www.go2intl.com/mastitis.html(opens in new window)Most studies yield similar conclusions about the costs of mastitis and the potential benefits of proper mastitis prevention and management on EU farms. All this indicates that for a large proportion of farms and other stakeholders there are many avoidable losses. The payback period for our product will be short, ranging from a few months to one year depending on the size of the farm and the mastitis incidence rate.
We can change the way the dairy ecosystem works – toward a more sustainable, profitable and CO2-neutral approach.
In well developed economies, central, often government-dependent milk quality labs play an important role in the dairy eco-system. These stakeholders mostly rely on capital intensive central lab equipment for mastitis detection, which in turn requires regular CO2- and cost-intensive milk sample collection from all farms and cows. Therefore, there is a drive to less frequent analysis in milk quality labs (e.g. in DHI, LKV, controle laitier passing from 4 to 8 weeks between samplings). However this has far reaching consequences for mastitis detection and udder-health. For all these reasons, reliable and cost-effective solutions are needed to compensate by allowing additional cell count measurements outside of the official milk recording. Moreover, our inter-stakeholder collaboration modules will allow bi-directionnal exchange of data with central labs but also with DHI,LKV, controle laitier data bases. Both, central labs and DHI, LKV, controle laitier organisations can become our business partners. Currently dairy cattle breeding companies are setting up collaborator-herds to obtain precise phenotypes of genotyped reference herds. Our instrument can play a major role in selective breeding for mastitis resistence. Therefore also breeding companies can become our business partners, as excellent data recording is required for them, especially in the era of genomic selection."
