At the recent "beef week" in Rockhampton, entrepreneurs competed to demonstrate an agricultural business idea worth funding. The winner was a cow breathalyser
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00:00 The inventors were a mix of farmers and scientists.
00:05 Despite their differences, a common goal - to make the lives of producers and cattle easier,
00:11 safer, more profitable or more environmentally friendly.
00:16 Ideas ranged from low-tech, like these safety fencing panels...
00:20 This product is 100% recycled plastic.
00:25 To high-tech, like this cow breathalyser.
00:27 But I had zero idea I would end up working with NASA.
00:33 From the eight innovators chasing the judges' nod, Dr Bronwyn Darlington from Accent took
00:39 home the $10,000.
00:41 What is your product?
00:42 We have invented a breath diagnostics technology that is able to collect breath from a cow,
00:48 analyse it using sensors from NASA and predict pregnancy accurately from day 18 post-insemination.
00:56 How much earlier can your device detect a pregnancy compared to somebody putting on
01:00 a plastic glove?
01:02 The vet standard is that an ultrasound really isn't possible for day 28.
01:08 The majority of people actually pray test further down the track.
01:11 But for us, day 18 is a real breakthrough because it's before the next reproductive
01:17 cycle.
01:18 So it gives you insight into what's coming next.
01:21 How does it save producers money?
01:23 They can do this without additional costs of actually having anyone else coming to do
01:27 it.
01:28 It also can fit into your own farm management schedule.
01:31 And as a test itself, it is price comparable or cheaper than the current general veterinary
01:39 or assisted reproduction costs.
01:42 How did NASA get involved?
01:44 So sensors on space stations and sensors in things like the Mars mission have led to the
01:49 development of what's called an electronic nose device.
01:51 Think of like a dog's nose that's combined with a camera but looks at tiny molecules.
01:57 So what they had done is developed a version of this for the Mars mission and the space
02:01 station for astronaut health.
02:04 What it did was to be able to measure molecules that come out of breath and then code those
02:11 to identify whether someone was sick or what type of sickness.
02:14 So I emailed NASA and said, "Hey, have you thought about using this for cows?"
02:19 What's the market globally?
02:20 The market globally is amazing and enormous.
02:23 And the American market has really embraced the idea of this technology.
02:27 So we have a very long line of interest of who would like the pregnancy and the feedlot
02:32 sector would really like the disease.
02:34 And methane is of interest to Walmart, so it is also an interest to the American market.
02:39 Thank you for your time and again, congratulations.
02:41 Thank you very much.
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