Public Funding for Davlec Limited

This project funds the development of a low-cost lateral flow test reader to address a growing need for cost-effective and portable analysis of lateral flow tests. These tests are growing in popularity and application, not least in low-resource markets where the need for low-cost disease diagnosis is greatest. Current solutions to this need are too high to make them readily accessible to the markets we envisage will benefit most from the product from this project. The output from this work has the potential to completely change the range of diagnostic tests available to a range of market sectors, including home use, by taking the guesswork out of interpreting test results, giving clear and unambiguous feedback to the user about the test result and next steps in diagnosis/treatment.

This project addresses the overall ISCF aim of Transforming Food Production by aiming to demonstrate the technical and commercial feasibility of Davlec's Automated Milk Sampling Device (AMSD) and Clarity's Lateral Flow (LF)Reader and test for progesterone in cow's milk. Providing an easy to use and cost-effective progesterone tests to work alongside the farmer's usual heat detection method aims to give him/her more precise information on the optimal timing for insemination, thereby increasing the likelihood of successful inseminations and reducing the number of days between calves; the calving interval (CI). Reducing the CI also addresses the specific competition aim of driving productivity in ruminant production systems by enhanced decision support with a technology solution and system.

This collaborative project aims to automate the existing ReproTel system, to allow it to be (retro-) fitted to existing and new (semi-)automated and robotic milking parlours. This project will drive productivity in ruminant production systems by enhancing decision support with a technology solution and system, and will deliver social, environmental and economic benefits to the dairy industry.