March 26, 2013

 

New Zealand's Kahne Animal Health, manufacturer and distributor of bio-telemetry based farm management tools, will launch a large-herd testing project - the world's first sensor-based wireless monitoring systems used to track health and fertility in cows.

Callaghan Innovation will provide US$1 million towards testing the biotelemetry-based rumen and fertility monitoring devices which measure temperature, pH levels and identify oestrus indicators in cows. The devices track and transmit data to provide farmers with health alerts and reports to help with the early detection of health problems, effectiveness of nutrition management, disorders that could impact fertility, and accurate oestrus detection.

Kahne's chief executive, Susanne Clay, said while there is a global market for the technology, the company has given priority to the local market to help Kiwi farmers solve livestock issues to drive efficiencies that impact their bottom lines.

Kahne has two products under development - SentinelTM, a rumen monitoring system, and CatalystTM, a fertility monitoring system.

"500 prototype units have been sold to researchers around the world, but with the co-funding received from Callaghan Innovation, we are now able to complete development and validate the system at scale with commercial herds," she said.

Acting general manager of business R&D grants at Callaghan Innovation, Graham Smith, says, "At Callaghan Innovation we aim to accelerate commercialisation of innovation in New Zealand firms, grants like these are just one of the ways we enable businesses to invest more in research, science, engineering and technology so they can be more successful." 

The grant from Callaghan Innovation follows a successful funding round late last year led by Wellington based venture fund Movac.