Local $1m trials for fast mastitis test
A Palmerston North agritech firm is pouring nearly $1 million of funding into commercial trials for a cheaper, faster farm-side test to help fight the common cattle infection mastitis.
Mastitis costs the dairy industry about $300m a year, but technology developed by Koru Diagnostics could soon be available to remove some of the guesswork with initial diagnosis.
Koru chief executive Rhys Mckinlay said the company recently secured more than $900,000 to develop its new mastitis test commercially.
The test is expected to give farmers quicker, more accurate information to decide on treatment options for infected cattle.
‘‘Historically, these are decisions the farmer or their vet would usually need to make on a best-guess basis.’’
Guessing wrong significantly increased treatment costs, and could permanently hurt the infected cows, resulting in reduced milk production and lower fertility, he said.
Mckinlay said commercialscale trials of the new test were under way, and the company expected to launch the product next year.
Koru’s test could detect specific mastitis bacteria in 10 minutes, a day faster than the next fastest test, and three to five days faster than traditional methods, he said.
It could also help the dairy industry’s efforts to cut back on unnecessary use of antibiotics, to which infection strains can develop resistance.
Dairynz senior scientist Jane Lacy-hulbert said there were several tests heading to market that would enable farmers to use antibiotics more responsibly.
She said correctly identifying the right strain of bacteria early was key to reducing the risk of it developing resistance.
‘‘Historically, these are decisions the farmer or their vet would usually need to make on a bestguess basis.’’