milkGUARD – a continuous whole milk disinfection system for calf feeding on-farm

Project Information

milkGUARD

Grant agreement ID: 773763

DOI

10.3030/773763

Project closed

EC signature date 19 May 2017

Start date 1 May 2017

End date 30 September 2017

Funded under

• SOCIETAL CHALLENGES - Food security, sustainable agriculture and forestry, marine, maritime and inland water research, and the bioeconomy

Total cost

€ 71 429,00

EU contribution

€ 50 000,00

Coordinated by

CALVEX A/S
Denmark

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - milkGUARD (milkGUARD – a continuous whole milk disinfection system for calf feeding on-farm)

Reporting period: 2017-05-01 to 2017-09-30

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

Calvex has developed the milkGUARD solution, which is a cost-efficient milk disinfection system to replace the currently marketed on-farm pasteurizers.
In light of the increasing demand in dairy products and thanks to the lifting of the milk quotas, there is a golden opportunity to increase milk production. This demands strategic management decisions from farmers to achieve elite-performing animals while considering cows’ health & welfare, environmental sustainability (water use, GHG emissions and air quality) and societal needs of food safety or reduction of antibiotic resistance.
Doing it through an improved nutrition in early life is widely accepted as the best practice to win benefits through all the lifetime of the animal without compromising fertility or longevity. Milk is the most beneficial feed for success in the long term, if it is free of pathogenic bacteria. Although farmers are aware of this, the market penetration of on-farm milk pasteurizers is still low because it is expensive and labour intensive.
Calvex objective was set for high growth by overcoming barriers associated with the introduction of our milkGUARD solution on the calf-feeding market. The current Feasibility Study was used to refine the design of the milkGUARD solution to prepare for large-scale demonstrations and assess its overall business feasibility.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

Since the beginning of the project we have achieved the following milestones:
- determined that our technology needs to be upscaled, certified and comply with industrial standards
- the economic, environmental and calves’ health benefits of our solution need to be demonstrated
- we have engaged with farmers for the demonstrations
- we have started to map our suppliers and dealers
- the next upscale and demonstration phases were planned
- funding is required for the upscale and demonstration activities.

milkGUARD addresses the issues described above in a cost-effective way.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

milkGUARD is a cost-effective and eco-friendly solution that allow farmers to provide the best quality milk to their calves while reducing GHG emissions and water consumption. milkGUARD disinfected milk will improve the calves’ health and wellbeing during the preweaning phase -increase their milk production and weight gain and decreased morbidity and mortality. This will reduce the use of antibiotics, foster animal health and welfare, strengthen the rural areas economy.

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