Development of a computer system or smart application for calculation of a dairy cow's future value on basis of infomation in the Danish Cattle Database with a specific concern of paratuberculosis.

The objectives of this project are: 1. Generate adequate information to understand the relationship between Somatic Cell Count (SCC), Diffrential Cell Count (DCC) and mastitis (intramammary infections) in dairy herds. 2. Develop guidelines to cost effective monitoring and control of mastitis in dairy cattle herds that should be offered with the commercail DCC product 3. Develop a commercial DCC product that will be used to automate the counting of DCC

Objectives 1.To develop a novel application for smartphones to capture on-farm ketosis monitoring data. The app will be designed to work on android phones and i-phone/i-pads. The app will allow collection of data for the three most common testing modalities (urine, milk, and blood ketones).

The aim of the project is to develop a new connected rubber mattress for dairy cows, improving their welfare and monitoring of breeding parameters.

This multidisciplinary project seeks to integrate and extend existing state of the art technologies to ensure sustainable and responsible management of dairy units, with focus on cow health, milk quality and reduced emissions. We shall focus on milk metabolomic methods for determination of metabolic health, biomarker technologies for assessment of systemic health and accelerometer collars for measuring various activities including feeding behaviour, and hence intake. We shall also have access to NIR technology for feed quality assessment and rumen-bolus technology for measurment of rumen pH.

In this project we will develop an evaluation platform that demonstrates through research the potential for an Internet of Things (IoT) enabled FMIS with animal-centric ICT, production databases & best practice standards to assist farmers optimise sustainable livestock production. In this respect SILF will take an integrated approach to solving issues with environmental impact and animal welfare during livestock production.

The project ‘Multi channel Disposable Sensors for Animal Health Disease Diagnostics’ aims to develop microfluidic, electronic biosensors for Bovine Respiratory Disease (BRD). BRD is a leading natural cause of death in cattle and has substantial economic impact on the US and Irish food industries. BRD is typically diagnosed via ELISA, which can be expensive and slow to provide definitive results. There are at present no commercially-available field-based electronic tests for animal diseases.

This project seeks to develop innovative 3D imaging technology to enhance the simultaneous measurement of cow body condition score (BCS), liveweight and mobility (gait) as a highly advanced management decision-making tool. The aim is to improve the pace at which these key quality and production traits are identified for animal welfare, sustainability and profitability.

Abstract This research proposal specifically targets Campylobacter infection of broiler chickens to demonstrate the utility of this sensor-based detection system in addressing a significant global meat production problem that impacts on animal health and welfare, and human health. Campylobacter jejuni causes >460,000 reported campylobacteriosis cases annually, at a cost to the UK government of >£900 million.