Dairy Quality Inc. – recognized for its innovation – has big plans for its little device
By Jennifer Jackson
Dairy Quality Inc.’s mobile milk testing device may one day be the jack-of-all trades when it comes to herd health. The Ontario government recently awarded the company with the Premier’s Award for Agri-Food Innovation Excellence for the creation of the Dairy Health Check Device and Quick SCC tool, according to a Dec. 7 company release..
The tools offer a fast, easy way to get the somatic cell count of a milk sample from an individual cow or of the bulk tank. When users buy the tool for their farm, Dairy Quality Inc. provides an iPod Touch that has its own microscope and app to view and share data.
“Our users really love it,” says Chris Gans, vice president of sales and chief marketing officer of Dairy Quality Inc. “It’s become an integral part of their dairy herd health.”
Recently, researchers at the University of Guelph tested the accuracy of the tools in comparison with other devices. Dairy Quality Inc.’s tools tested within two to three per cent of the acclaimed Foss Analytical Fossomatic cell counter, according to a Sept. study.
“The accuracy is important for farmers,” says Gans. The Dairy Health Check Device proves to be accurate testing samples with lower numbers of cells per millimetre of milk. “When you can accurately detect 250,000 to 800,000 cells per ml of milk, there is still a lot the farmer can do to keep the cow healthy and productive – we want to allow farmers to catch problems early.”
With both tools, Farmers can easily collect data and transmit it to the appropriate device for record keeping, says Gans.
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“Data is now becoming very prevalent on the farm, whether it’s for feed or monitoring pregnancy rates. Our device is portable – you can transmit data with wifi. We do not only create data, but we can also transmit it.”
Gans highlights that they hope to evolve the technology to be used for monitoring milk samples for an even wider spectrum of health issues.
“We would like to see the device be a multipurpose herd health check device – a tool for better decision management,” he says.
Next up for the company is to provide pregnancy tracking, ketosis monitoring in the milk, and bacteria monitoring in the milk, according to Gans. Pregnancy and ketosis tracking will be available within the next couple of months.
As far as the Agri-Innovation Award?
“We are thrilled to death,” says Gans. “As many small companies in Ontario know, it’s hard work – you have your head down a lot – so it’s very exciting for us.”
“It’s also very humbling; we saw the quality of the other award winners. It’s exciting to see the level of innovation throughout Ontario agriculture.”
More information on the Dairy Health Check Device and QuickSCC tools are on the Dairy Quality Inc. website.
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