The occasional downer cow, who cannot rise unaided due to illness or injury, is a fact of life on all dairy units. She may rise immediately following initial first aid; if not, she must be moved to a hospital pen for further assessment, nursing or veterinary care. Cows are difficult animals to move practically and humanely due to their size and all the existing techniques have drawbacks. The Cow Recovery project is an innovative Farmer/Vet collaboration which aims to improve outcomes for downer cows by providing a safer alternative to current methods of moving them, in conjunction with veterinary training. The Cow Recovery bucket, which can be attached to machinery available on most UK dairy farms, has key adaptations which make it uniquely suitable for moving downer cows and is painted appropriately to enhance public understanding and ensure a singular purpose. It enables two stock people to move a recumbent cow in a stress-free manner to a suitable location, without risk of injury to themselves or the animal. A twelve month study run on ten leading dairy farms will gain feedback on their experiences of using the bucket compared with previous techniques and follow the outcomes for the cows moved; including adverse events, short-term and long-term survival as well as experiences of the farm workers themselves. The learnings gained from this study will be shared through the veterinary training materials to create a standardised blueprint for safely and humanely handling the downer cow. Improved handling of recumbent cows has the potential to reduce mortality; improve welfare, productivity, efficiency, reputation and hence the sustainability and resilience of the UK dairy industry.

Serum concentration of IgG in neonatal calves is a direct marker of the level of passive transfer of maternal antibody from colostrum. There is substantial evidence that successful passive transfer is associated with decreased morbidity and mortality rates, improved growth rates, feed conversion and lifetime productive capacity, whether the calf is destined to produce milk or enter the beef supply chain. As such, successful passive transfer is a key driver of economic and environmental efficiency on both dairy and beef farms rearing calves sourced from dairy units. ImmunIGy is a pen-side diagnostic test for measuring IgG in calves. It is novel for 2 reasons: firstly it is a Lateral Flow Test which can be carried out by the farmer, pen-side, and secondly the sample can be obtained by the farmer using a lancet on an insensitive part of the calf's nose. Hence the result can be obtained cheaply in the space of a few minutes. The project aims are to ; (a) Confirm that the output of the ImmunIGy test correlates with the current gold standard for measuring IgG, which will confirm its value for use in calves less than a week of age. (b) Determine if the measurement of IgG at collection centres for beef calves from the dairy herd can be used to predict future performance, both alone and when used to improve the function of a pre-existing Calf Algorithm. Such testing can drive improved efficiency of beef production via direct feedback to farms supplying calves with insufficient maternal immunity, pricing differentials and via bespoke management of calves according to their performance prediction. (c) Incorporate the algorithm into an App which will allow calf rearers to test calves on entry, enter the data to predict calf performance and put in place differential management practices, such as separate groups or a different threshold of disease prevalence before implementing antibiotic therapy. (d) Train the participating farmers in the use of the test, the App and the data that they need to provide whilst receiving feedback on its usability.

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).

This project addresses the adoption of precision livestock farming (PLF) technologies in sheep farming. PLF has been widely adopted in the management of high-value animals e.g. dairy cattle, but is not currently applied to those with lower economic value, e.g. sheep, despite the potential to increase production efficiency. In the UK, there are around 23.3 million sheep, including 14.7 million breeding ewes worth approximately £690 million to the economy. Since 2010, all individual sheep in the UK are equipped with EID (Electronic Identification) tags, further paving the way for use of PLF technologies. However, uptake is a major issue. A recent survey of European sheep farmers showed that only 38% of farmers have any EID equipment, which are rarely used for sheep management. Likewise, in the UK, a survey of PLF technology adoption showed that 55% of farmers did not have and did not intend to adopt EID technology for management purposes. The project consortium will engage with end-users (members of the farming community and farming advisors) early in the project, to co-design tools to increase the uptake of PLF on-farm. We will use one proven PLF tool; an existing pen-side tool to optimise lamb worming, using an algorithm for the early identification of under-performing lambs. This Targeted Selective Treatment (TST) has been developed at MRI and validated at MRI, SRUC and on commercial farms, including one facilitated by 5Agri. The adoption of TST reduces wormer use and labour, and the costs required. Importantly, it slows the development of wormer resistance. Farmers have described a clear need for this type of approach on farm. However availability to the farming community is currently hampered by the lack of a user-friendly method for farmers to access the algorithm. This project will facilitate the integration of the algorithm into a cloud-based platform, thereby making it easily accessible to farmers. Validation of the improved technology will be performed on 10 'innovative' and 2 research sheep farms across the UK, covering a range of geographical locations and using commercially appropriate sheep breeds to ensure evidence that is relevant to a wide range of sheep farms. Cost-benefit analysis and carbon foot-printing of implementing the new approach will be conducted. The results of this project will be disseminated through on-farm knowledge exchange events at strategic locations across the UK to demonstrate the ease, accessibility, cost-benefit and environmental benefit of using this integrated pen-side TST approach.