Dr Mark Oliver and Liz Cunningham of the University of Auckland's Liggins Institute are developing a diagnostic tool for mastitis with their team. Photo: SUPPLIED/Liggins Institute
A New Zealand start-up wants to give farmers a tool similar to the Covid-19 rapid antigen test for detecting and diagnosing mastitis in the herd.
Mastitis is an infection of a cow's mammary gland and udders caused by bacteria which can include either Streptococcus uberis or Staphylococcus aureus.
A new tool named QuickMas was being developed to identify bacteria present in the affected cow, the pathogen causing the infection and its reaction to antibiotics.
Last month, the venture secured a $25,000 kick-start grant under the Velocity $100k Challenge, run by the University of Auckland's Centre for Innovation and Entrepreneurship.
Co-founder and research technician at the university's Liggins Institute Liz Cunningham said the idea was inspired by an "awful" experience during an outbreak of mastitis while contract milking in 2022.
She wanted a tool to detect it earlier and reduce its harm on the herd.
"I thought I was pretty onto it when it came to managing mastitis - really good at finding cows, getting them treated and making sure the shed was clean. But unfortunately, Staph. aureus has a mind of its own," she said.
"I was shocked to find out that there was no tool to help me find out that if I have a cow with mastitis, what is infecting her. So I had to wait at least 24 hours for that."
But she said QuickMas would return test results in as little as 15 minutes and no more than one hour.
"This means they can treat the cow in the same milking session as they find her."
She said 13 percent of the 360-strong herd she had worked with were culled to ensure the bacterial infection was eliminated - and it was challenging for farmers who were so passionate about their cows.
"It will affect a lot of dairy farmers' mental health to deal with an issue like this, but QuickMas is going to help them know once they've finished treating a cow if she is safe to go back in the herd, or if she's still harbouring that nasty bug and hopefully also assist with antibiotic resistance."
She said the on-farm diagnostic tool would be similar to a Covid-19 rapid antigen test, and would also address the need for a test that confirmed the bacteria was no longer inside a treated cow.
"A lot of cows with this bug (Staph. Aureus) will look normal after you've treated her, but will harbour some of that bacteria in their udder and spread it to their mates in the days, weeks and months to come," she said.
Prevention, diagnoses and treatment of mastitis were time-consuming and costly exercises for cattle farmers, and it also impacted milk production.
Cunningham said mastitis was estimated to have a global burden of $32 billion each year - at an incident rate of 14 percent in New Zealand.
DairyNZ said mastitis cost New Zealand's dairy industry $180 million each year.
The team was working to validate and test the tool at the University of Auckland's Ngapouri Research Farm before hopefully bringing it to market in late 2025.