Growing Ideas: Savvy software an ‘udder’ success!

Two canny Canadians have developed technology that could save the global dairy industry over USD 10 billion in production costs. “That’s the amount lost every year through undetected and untreated udder infections,” says co-founder Damir Wallener.
Computer engineer Damir Wallener and his friend Cory Spencer first had the idea for their business in 2017. Spencer was a cheesemaker with a herd of 120 goats and some of his animals were sick. “We realized there were no tools for dairy farmers of his scale to help prevent diseases or catch them early,” says Wallener. “If you don’t catch udder illness quickly, the animal’s immune response does permanent damage to the udder and she never recovers to full productivity.”
Spencer and Wallener started kicking around ideas to address the problem. By mid-2017 they thought they had something that could work. “We shared our idea with cattle farmers and others in the food & agtech space and the reaction was: ‘Wow, this could be really great!’’’
“Manual techniques are not feasible in a competitive environment”
– Damir Wallener, EIO Diagnostics
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Multi-spectral imaging
The manual technique traditionally used to detect udder disease – feeling for irregularities, sampling milk and doing lab tests – is expensive, time-consuming and not scalable. “It’s not really feasible in a competitive environment,” says Wallener. “Our technology involves no labor component, is easy to scale, and cows can be tested at every milking.”
The key to Wallener and Spencer’s start-up, EIO Diagnostics, is multi-spectral imaging technology, which can be used to scan people, animals and objects non-invasively. The men came across it almost by accident, through a medical colleague of Wallener’s. The technology’s potential was immediately clear to them, and they adapted it for use on dairy herds.
EIO’s product makes diagnoses with two tools: hand-held devices, usually owned by the local vet, that scan the udder, and permanent on-farm installations for larger dairy producers, EIO’s main target market. “Either way, our diagnosis software is immediately integrated into whatever software is there,” explains Wallener. “Texts can even be sent automatically to the local vet.”
“The farmers don’t pay until they’ve seen the economic benefit”
– Damir Wallener, EIO Diagnostics
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“Try first, pay later”
EIO is currently entering commercial deployment, with their first farm of 15,000 cows in Idaho. The biggest obstacle the pair has encountered has been persuading farmers that their devices are not just another promise of cost-cutting, ‘quick-fix’ equipment that doesn’t always deliver. So they have opted for a ‘trial first, pay later’ model. “If we are allowed to install our equipment, the farmer doesn’t pay anything until he or she has seen the economic benefit themselves.”
Expansion in sub-Saharan Africa
For the future, the two entrepreneurs are not only looking to extend the application of the technology itself ¬ – “we’re hoping to pick up health problems in the entire cow, not just the udder” – they also plan to take the product overseas. Wallener: “In a year’s time, we hope to have a burgeoning business in sub-Saharan Africa where there is a compelling need for good-quality milk and little access to tools. We have spoken to farmers in Kenya and Namibia, and are meeting the second largest dairy producer in Kenya in September.”
EIO Diagnostics was a winner in the FoodBytes! start-up contest in March 2018. And if you’re wondering what the ‘EIO’ stands for, the answer may come as some surprise. Wallener: “You know the children’s song? ‘Old MacDonald had a farm, E I, E I O’? Well, there you have it!”
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Source: Rabobank
Link: https://www.rabobank.com/en/raboworld/articles/growing-ideas-savvy-soft-ware-an-udder-success.html