No-bull mating a lot of bull
A Lincoln University Dairy Farm (LUDF) decision to use all AI and no bulls for mating has given “mixed” results and looks like it will be a short-lived experiment.
Lincoln Agritech Ltd says technology it has devised to detect processing losses in dairy plants can save the industry millions of dollars a year and help keep pollutants from waterways.
Commercialised by CertusBio, Christchurch, the automated bio-sensor continuously monitors product lines.
The device, Milk-Guard, uses a lactose-specific enzyme to measure the percentage of dairy products present in waste streams and processing lines, sending the data to a process control room for human monitoring and changes if necessary.
CertusBio chief executive Matthew Jones said that due to the vast quantity of dairy products processed in New Zealand, large amounts of valuable products could be lost quickly.
“Dairy plant operators will be able to improve the resource and energy efficiency of their plant processes by reducing losses of valuable dairy products,” Jones says.
