Maria Dimaki

MilkPath: Farmsite preventive care of calf disease – For better welfare, farm life, and economy

Applicant

Maria Dimaki

Project description

Milk deemed unfit for human consumption, due to the potential presence of pathogens, is commonly fed to the calves as a low-cost alternative to formula or saleable milk. However, calves have a weakened immune defence and can therefore develop serious diarrhea, when consuming contaminated milk. About 40% of calves suffer from diarrhea each year and the cost for the farmer, in terms of time, labour, treatment, animal loss and reduced milk production in adulthood is significant.

The GALA project aims to develop a simple on-site test for milk quality control. The test will detect the presence of prevalent harmful bacteria in the waste milk, as well as the total bacteria count, thus preventing cases of diarrhea among calves and reducing related costs for the farmers.

Institution

Technical University of Denmark