Bovine Light Mask wins down under
More masked dairy cows are likely to be seen down under, after Irish company Equilume was highly commended in the International Innovation Awards at the recent 50th New Zealand Agricultural Fieldays.
Awards judges said the Equilume mask which provides a low level of blue light in a single eye can increase milk yields, and has great potential.
Equilume’s Bovine Light Mask won one of the Enterprise Ireland Innovation Arena Awards at the National Ploughing Championships last year.
Equilume is a world leader in development of light therapy solutions to improve animal performance.
The Equilume Light Mask is already used in the horse industry to maximise reproductive efficiency and competitive performance, and the company then explored how similar devices could help in the bovine industries.
The role of controlled lighting to increase milk production in dairy cattle is well known, with study after study showing increased milk production when cows get 16 hours of light, alternating with eight hours of darkness.
Generally, milk yields increase 5%-10%, one of the advantages which farmers who keep cows indoors can exploit. What Equilume has done is make this advantage available for pasture-based dairy enterprises.
And it works, with a 9% increase in milk production in a trial conducted in collaboration with Teagasc.
These results impressed the New Zealanders too.
Dr Barbara Murphy, chief scientific officer and founder of Equilume, was at Fieldays, the country’s main agricultural exhibition.
She said the masks suppress melatonin production and increase the growth hormones that stimulates milk production.
“It matches with a sustainable approach to agriculture, because instead of increasing your herd size by 9%, your herd produces more milk.”
The masks will not be commercially available for at least a year and would be likely to cost about $80 (€47) each when they went to market, she said.
“If you’re getting the average 9% increase in yield and prices for milk are stable, you should get your money back in one lactation, in theory,” she said.
Check out how the Equilume Light Mask has proved to be a very useful tool for the team at Arrowfield. #betterwithblue pic.twitter.com/dySXe1XbnZ
— Equilume (@equilume) June 28, 2018
Since its launch in 2012, the Equilume mask now sells to the equine sector internationally. Other products include the Equilume Stable Light designed to replicate natural light indoors.
Ubco was the overall winner of the Fieldays International Innovation Award, for the updated version of their electric utility bike. The New Zealand company’s machine impressed innovation judges as e-smart, eco-friendly and safer than competing farm bikes and ATVs. Ubco CEO Timothy Allan highlighted its advantages of quietness and less moving parts,
