Ontario dairy start-ups win big in New York State

Two Ontario-based dairy start-ups were recently named among the winners of a prestigious $3 million business competition in New York State.

Read Also

Berry pomace shows promise in poultry feed

Glacier FarmMedia – Preventing disease in poultry has new urgency, as recent outbreaks of avian influenza in North America and…

SomaDetect won $500,000 and Cattle Scan received a $250,000 prize in the fifth annual Grow-NY Food & Agriculture Competition. It is focused on growing a food and agriculture innovation cluster in Central New York State, the Finger Lakes and what is called the Southern Tier — the regions around Ithaca, Binghampton, Elmira and Corning.

Why it matters: New York state is the fifth largest dairy producer in the U.S. behind California, Wisconsin, Texas and Idaho, and home to approximately 3,500 dairy farms and 630,000 dairy cows.

Winning teams must commit to operating in the participating regions for a year.

SomaDetect has developed a sensor and software system that provides farmers with reliable milk-based data from every cow at every milking. Real-time automatic analysis of critical dairy quality indicators like fat, protein, somatic cell counts and progesterone streamlines on-farm decision-making around reproduction and herd health, including early detection of mastitis.

“We can use a list of cows that dry off and not treat the ones with the lowest somatic cell counts who aren’t at risk of infection, reducing antibiotic use from 40 to 60 per cent, depending on how aggressive the farm wants to be,” says CEO and founder Bethany Desphande.

“We can also do 18-day pregnancy monitoring to identify open cows. On large farms in particular, we can really help ensure their breeding protocol is as efficient as possible.”

SomaDetect has about a dozen farms in Canada and the U.S. ranging from 60 to 4,000 cows using its system and team members are based in Atlantic Canada, Ontario, Alberta and the United States.

“Grow-NY is a huge opportunity to reach the farming community in New York and having that validation where they’ve looked deeply at your technology and the value it provides to farmers,” she says.

“We are always looking for innovative farmers who want to work with a new technology that can make small changes to their operation with massive impact on-farm.”

Cattle Scan, based in Guelph, has developed a bolus sensor device that monitors dairy cow biometrics, including activity, rumination, water intake and temperature in real-time.

The system provides early detection of illness, heat stress alerts, insights into low water intake, calving detection and reproductive patterns, leading to better overall herd health and increased production efficiency.

According to co-founder and CEO Denis Tokarev, the bolus, which can be positioned in the rumen of dairy animals at a young age, is complemented by a sophisticated algorithm that automatically interprets the collected data.

Cattle Scan has been working with researchers at the University of Guelph and the University of Wisconsin to validate the system and is building a customer base in both Canada and the United States.

“Through Grow-NY we are building momentum in the U.S. as well, and we are partnering with Dairy Farmers of America, one of their largest dairy co-ops who is selling our system,” says Tokarev.

“New York is an easy choice for us (for growth) as the fifth largest dairy producer in the U.S. and with a rich landscape of vendors and manufacturers. For us, having reputable clients in New York will pave the way for us to go nationwide in the U.S.”

For farmers interested in trying Cattle Scan, the company offers an on-farm trial starter kit for 50 cows for six months, which only requires administering the boluses and plugging in the antenna. The system is designed to integrate with existing farm management systems.

The Grow-NY grand prize winner, taking home $1 million, was Hypercell Technologies, a start-up from Georgia that provides rapid point-of-care diagnostics for the food chain, including early identification and management of biological contaminants from production to processing.

All 20 finalists received dedicated mentorship from regional business advisors in the lead up to the live finale in November. The competition was administered by Cornell University’s Centre for Regional Economic Advancement.