A Defra review of UK bovine tuberculosis (bTB) strategy acknowledged bTB as the most pressing animal health problem in the UK. The Enferplex Bovine TB Antibody Test is a multiplex ELISA test for the detection of bTB in serum and milk, developed as a collaboration between three companies: SureFarm Ltd, a subsidiary of Synergy Farm Health Ltd (England), MV Diagnostics Ltd (Scotland) and Enfer Scientific ULC, part of Enfer Group (Eire). The test shows high sensitivity and specificity for the detection of bTB in bulk milk. The use of bulk milk as a surveillance tool offers significant opportunities in the control of TB, reducing costs to both farm and taxpayer through easier surveillance and improved control. The test is in the process of evaluation for approval by the World Office of Animal Health, which if accepted would require the UK Government to place mandatory restrictions on any herd testing positive. Therefore, there is a window of opportunity to develop understanding of the value that the test would bring to bTB control in the UK, without risk to the dairy industry and individual farms. We plan a GB wide, longitudinal study on the outcomes of testing bulk milk with the Enferplex bTB Antibody Test. Specifically, the study will focus on: 1\. Test results obtained from herds currently under restriction. While the sensitivity of the test has already been elucidated for the OIE submission, this was based on a single time point and repeating the test may enhance sensitivity. 2\. How many herds currently designated Officially Tuberculosis Free (OTF) would be determined positive by the test. 3\. Understanding the relationship between seropositivity and/or the number of positive antigens and herd bTB status. 4\. Understanding the predictive value of changes in seropositivity and/or the number of positive antigen reactions for tracking progress, or otherwise, of herd bTB control measures. Falling levels of either parameter may suggest a herd moving towards disease freedom; vice versa, rising levels may indicate that current actions are failing to control disease where the herd is already under restriction. 5\. Understanding whether the test could be used as a monitoring tool for low risk OTF herds. The project has the full support of the National Farmers Union (NFU) and the British Cattle Veterinary Association (BCVA).

**VISION** Creating 624 jobs and £64M p.a. additional GVA, the Digital Dairy Value-Chain will deliver an uplift in the rural economies of Cumbria and South West Scotland. It will develop a world-class research, innovation, business and skills platform to establish the region as a leader in advanced, sustainable and high-value dairy manufacturing. Inclusive, innovation-led growth will also deliver wider societal and environmental gains including reductions in carbon footprints. The project will develop innovative technologies (e.g. sensors, IoT, 5G-communications, blockchain), infrastructure and advanced manufacturing processes to create a fully-integrated and traceable supply chain. It will generate new opportunities to optimise manufacturing, develop new products and markets, and valorise consumer concerns around dairy production. **GEOGRAPHY** Spanning national boundaries, Cumbria and SW Scotland produce 1.9bn litres of milk annually. As the UK's second largest milk producer, dairy manufacturing is an important source of economic activity and employment. Our geography is remote and rural. Regional GVA is well below the national average, high-value employment opportunities are limited and business innovation activity is patchy. The impacts of BREXIT and changes to agricultural support will be significant. This project focuses on AgriFood manufacturing, sustainable exploitation of natural capital, and digitalisation; all are priorities for regional growth. With 63% of our local authority areas having a negative prosperity gap there is significant untapped human capital. Social inclusivity goals cut across our activities particularly focusing on advancing opportunity for young people and women who are under-represented in dairying, STEM and business innovation. **NETWORK** We draw on an impressive network of world-class research capability (SRUC; University of Strathclyde; University of the West of Scotland); technology innovation centre (CENSIS); regional and multi-national dairy-processing companies (First Milk, Lactalis, Arla, Kendal Nutricare, Appleby Creamery); SmartSTEMs; and technology businesses (Lely, Seric, North). The project is backed by strong support from civic leadership. **OBJECTIVES** The project will: * **Develop digital connectivity.** Establish the region as a beacon for digitally-connected, value-added milk processing. * **Stimulate R&D.** Facilitate access to state-of-the-art infrastructure and expertise, catalyse collaborative R&D and commercialisation of innovative products and processes. * **Facilitate business growth.** Provide business support and facilities for early ventures, scale-up businesses and established companies to undertake New Product Development (NPD) and process improvement. * **Attract talent and skills.** Foster a talent pipeline that advances opportunity and enables industry to exploit new technologies and market opportunities. This project leverages investments in the Borderlands Inclusive Growth Deal, Ayrshire Growth Deal, and Cumbria's Food Enterprise Zone.

This project sets out to expand the use of easily attainable milk spectral results to provide a risk status of ketosis likelihood at an individual cow level. There is significant potential for this new tool to increase the efficiency of GB milk production by reducing costly body weight changes, improving health and fertility, and ensuring more targeted use of energy resources on farm. Being able to provide a ketosis indicator that's hassle free, low-cost and non-invasive on a regular basis using a controlled system such as milk recording, will offer greater opportunities for the 5,000 dairy herds recorded by NMR to partake in ketosis monitoring. Currently, time constraints and the complexity of data required to generate meaningful measures are a barrier for participation. NMR, along with SRUC and EBVC seek to overcome these via this project.

This project centres on exploring the potential to extract key new information from the spectral analysis gained through the mid Infra Red testing of individual cow milk samples. The scope exists to use the spectral data gained from such testing to estimate the quantity of a range of fatty acids in milk. Such information is valuable in terms of assessing cow health, fertility and nutrition status and also can be used to estimate the methane emissions of the cow. This project will focus on determining the potential to establish a number of new cow performance measures that will allow the dairy industry to optimise herd performance and maximise the lifetime yield of the herd. This in turn will not only boost the economic sustainability of dairying but also lessen the environmental impact of the sector. Another aspect of the project will be to assess the heritability of certain fatty acid traits. It is anticipated that heritability will be shown to be a key determinant of certain fatty acid types. If this can be demonstrated through the project, breeding programmes can be developed that take these traits into account such that the genetic pool within the dairy herd is strengthened in the right areas, delivering improved cow health and potentially improving the healthiness of dairy products for human consumption.

The consortium will develop a health and condition monitoring platform, a foundation to creating decision support applications in order to catalyse improvements in production efficiency and a concomitant reduction in waste and losses in the ruminant protein supply chain. The solution will encompass reliable and continuous monitoring and sensing of specifically defined, important variables and signals in beef and dairy cattle in commercial agricultural settings including challenging physical environments. As well as providing valuable management and labour saving tools, these solutions offer distinct efficiency advantages for commercial producers.