Team:Cornell NY/Integrated Practices

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Practices

Our Approach

Cornell iGEM’s multifaceted approach to tackling mastitis is innovative and unique. In order to facilitate the development of our novel ideas, we have spent each stage of our project visiting and interacting with experts in the field, making decisions carefully with the feedback of current dairy farmers in mind. We approached the project with human-centered design in three stages. First, inspiration. We derived our ideas from what was needed in the mastitis industry. Next, ideation. We sketched out prototypes and brought them to the farmer. And finally, implementation. We created our product. And at this stage, we knew that what we had created would be useful, because it was, in essence, the farmer, who had directed us throughout the process.

Check out our continued discussion on cost, safety, and legality here.

Timeline - Inspiration
[April - May]

QUESTION: What is the biggest problem facing the dairy industry?

FINDINGS: There needs to be better methods for detection and prevention of mastitis.





  • April 28, 2016
    ProDAIRY
    Cooperstown, NY

    We began our journey by speaking with Caroline Potter and Rob Lynch from ProDAIRY, a dairy educational organization in New York. We discovered that cows infected with mastitis have to be taken out of the milking process and are treated with antibiotics in quarantine. Even after a cow is cured, they have to be withheld from milking for several more days until all traces of antibiotics have left the milk. The treatment process and loss of milk is costly and Caroline and Rob emphasized the pervasiveness of mastitis in the dairy industry.

  • May 6, 2016
    Snofarm
    Brooktondale, NY

    Next, we visited Snofarm, a small dairy farm with 90 cows about an hour away from campus. The owner of the farm showed us the milking process and told us that the most intensive part of mastitis was disease prevention. Ensuring the cows and their environment were clean is time consuming, but crucial to prevent mastitis. Due to Snofarm's size, antibiotics were a last resort for the owners, and they preferred helping the cow heal on its own.

  • May 7, 2016
    Vet Dairy Teaching Barn
    Ithaca, NY

    Shortly after, we visited Cornell's Vet Dairy Teaching Barn. Located close to campus, the Vet Dairy Teaching barn supplies milk and is often used for educational purposes and outreach events. We met with Charles, who showed us the milking process. He informed us about the methods that he uses to prevent and treat mastitis, and showed us the instruments used to inject antibiotics into a cow. After our talk with Charles, we decided that mastitis prevention efforts were more important during the milking period than during the dry period. We saw that during milking, the first bit of milk from the teat is squirted onto the floor as a visual test for mastitis, and decided to create a more sophisticated method for mastitis detection.

  • May 13, 2016
    Zoetis
    Florham Park, NJ

    Zoetisis one of world’s largest pharmaceutical companies that develops medicine and vaccination for animals. We reached out to Dr. Neubauer, also president of the National Mastitis Council, to ask about a collaboration between us. Dr. Neubauer arranged a call-in meeting to learn more about our project and assisted the product development team with their milking device design.

  • May 13, 2016
    Quality Milk Production Services
    Ithaca, NY

    Dr. Daryl Nydam is the reigning milk quality expert in New York State. He works at the Quality Milk Production Services (QMPS) located on Cornell’s campus, which serves all of New York. The QMPS is world-renowned for its diagnostic services, mastitis prevention programs, and educational assistance. Dr. Nydam gave us information about different types of mastitis-causing pathogens and the bacteriocins that target them. Rare species are worth targeting because a single outbreak can quickly become detrimental. Infection by Gram-negative pathogens is common because they are found in abundance in the milking environment. Gram-positive pathogens are the most virulent and traditionally must be treated with antibiotics. Our wet lab team decided to target a few species in each of these groups when choosing the bacteriocins we would use.

Timeline - Ideation
[June - August]

OUR PROGRESS: Just from preliminary interviewing, we realized that there was a dire need for the prevention and detection of mastitis. Our wet lab team started work on a bacteriocin treatment, choosing genes based on Dr. Nydam's advice. Our product development team concentrated on prevention, and narrowed their ideas down to a multi-purpose milking shell with different modules: an automatic post-dip disinfectant, a flow rate sensor, a cold shock, a temperature sensor, and a UV sterilizer. Our CS/ECE subteam focused on the detection of mastitis and created an app with several features including: a resource for symptoms, a somatic cell counter with a microscope attachment, a data analysis section, and a cost calculator. We brought these concepts to experts in the ideation phase to get feedback and constantly improve our designs.

QUESTION: What do you like and what would you change about our product?

FINDINGS: Experts were receptive to bacteriocins and had no problem with the safety of it. The temperature sensor, UV light, iodine spray, and cold shock were all seen as important modules, but not all farmers wanted all of the modules. The flow sensor was not needed, and the app was most useful on big farms that use traditional milking processes.









  • July 15, 2016
    Milkrite
    Johnson Creek, WI

    Milkrite, a division of Avon Rubber and Plastics, is the world’s largest provider of dairy rubber wear. We reached out to Tom Votny. During our conversation, we learned about the current state of the milking machine market, what technologies had already been developed for shells and liners, how products were typically tested, and how large companies conduct their market research. Tom emphasized that farmer feedback is essential to making sure that our project as a whole succeeds in the marketplace. We began contacting as many farms as we could to gather that feedback.

  • July 25, 2016
    Muranda Cheese Company
    Waterloo, NY

    With sketches in hand, we went to the Muranda Cheese Company, a 90-cow farm located in Waterloo, NY. We talked to Blane Murray, who told us that our idea as a whole was valuable because it includes a preventative measure for mastitis. We showed him our proposed sketches for the milking shell with various modules, and he indicated that the most useful modules would be the temperature sensor, UV light, iodine spray, and cold shock. Blane said that our app would be more useful for bigger and more technologically advanced farms, and referred us to two more farms we could speak to. Blane also pointed out the importance of cost effectiveness. Farmers want to know that our device works, and whether they are going to get a return on their investment.

  • July 28, 2016
    Quality Milk Production Services
    Ithaca, NY

    We went back to speak with Daryl Nydam of Quality Milk Production Services now that our ideas were more fleshed out. Dr. Nydam lent us a field guide for mastitis that gave us a solid foundation of how we should move forward with bacteriocin testing, and agreed to provide us with infected milk samples that we could use as test targets. We asked Dr. Nydam how we would know if our product was successful. He answered that if we could show that bacteriocins work better than antibiotics, then it could be a home run.

    For our milking shell, Dr. Nydam liked the iodine spray, UV light, and cold shock modules. He did not think the temperature sensor or the flow sensor were necessary as they were already implemented in farms, or were not good indicators for prevention. He mentioned that the iodine spray module would contaminate the milk if we kept it at the top of the shell. He was particularly interested in the cold shock module for its innovation, but suggested that we talk to more experts to see whether cold shock would be physiologically effective.

    We also spoke to Dr. Nydam about our app. He recommended some academic literature that would help us with the economic analysis of treating or culling a cow. He was fascinated by the somatic cell counter and urged us to further pursue that option. While there are tests like the California Mastitis Test that already allow farmers to quickly detect mastitis, this new innovation could change the way the disease is approached and dealt with by farmers.

    Dr. Nydam praised us for choosing a project in the dairy industry because of the strong agricultural presence in New York, along with the connections that Cornell has. Overall, Dr. Nydam emphasized something that everyone we have met has said: farmers want ease and effectiveness.

  • August 1, 2016
    Windstott Farm
    Genoa, NY

    The first farm recommended to us by Blane Murray was Windstott Farm, a 130-cow farm located in Genoa, NY. Unlike other farms that we had been to, this farm was a robot farm, and we were excited to gain a different perspective on the needs of dairy farms. We spoke to the owner, Bill Kilcer. He began implementing robotic milking machines around 7 years ago. Robot farms require very little human interaction--cows step into the machine as they need to, and sensors detect its teats before latching on. We watched the process and noticed that the iodine is automatically sprayed after milking, unlike other farms where a person applies it manually. Bill told us that our ideas of having a temperature sensor, flow rate sensor, iodine spray, and indicator built into the shell were already incorporated into the robots. He also said that our app would not be as helpful for him because all the data that the milk samples are tested for, such as conductivity, temperature, and amount of fat and protein, are already stored into a computer. This feedback made us realize that our idea would be most helpful for bigger traditional dairy farms.

  • August 2, 2016
    Scipio Springs Dairy
    Union Springs, NY

    Scipio Springs Dairy is a much larger farm with 800 cows and is set up like a traditional milking parlor, with rows 12 cows parallel to each other. We met with Bill Morgan, who supervises operations of the dairy farm, and the herd manager of the farm, allowing us to get a more well-rounded feedback on our wet lab, product development, and app components of our project. Bill was extremely interested in implementing bacteriocins on his farm instead of using traditional antibiotics. He was impressed by our modular idea for the shell because he believed that it was an all-encompassing prevention to mastitis. Bill believed that the UV light would be a great alternative to the traditional use of heat because heat changes the functionality of the proteins in the milk as well as the milk’s flavor. He also liked the idea of the temperature sensor because gram negative bacteria mastitis typically causes an increase in temperature. Using a temperature sensor would be better than the conventional way of finding out that the mastitis is caused by gram negative bacteria visually because by the time the cause is found, the damage to the cow and its milk is already done. Overall, Bill Morgan was supportive of our idea, and was interested in trying out our prototype and app once we finalized them.

  • August 4, 2016
    Dairy One Co-op Inc
    Ithaca, NY

    Dairy One is a dairy data management company that assists farmers in making decisions on their farms. Blane Murray from the Muranda Cheese Company uses Dairy One’s services, and referred us to the company. We spoke with John Tauzel and James Zimmermann primarily for feedback on our app. Dairy One supported the Somatic Cell Counter idea for its innovative idea and convenience. For the cost calculator, they noted that calculating the overall profit/loss of the farm rather than looking at individual cows would be more beneficial. They suggested that the cow data show the effectiveness of the farmer’s practices, so that the farmer can review productivity and make long term decisions.

Timeline - Implementation

Now it was time to bring our sketches to life by turning them into a real, physical product. We returned for our final farm visits with a physical prototype of the customizable shell in hand, along with a running mobile app.







  • October 1, 2016
    Muranda Cheese Company
    Waterloo, NY

    Blane from the Muranda Cheese Company looked at our prototype and noted that the temperature sensor could be in the way if the teats are too close together. He suggested that we remove extraneous components on the outside of the shell that could be destroyed if the cow kicked. He also mentioned that we should try to get the modules inside the shell in a way that would not affect the liner.

  • October 1, 2016
    Scipio Springs Dairy
    Union Springs, NY

    Bill Morgan of Scipio Farm remembered our ideas from before and gave us a thorough analysis of what he thought of the various aspects of our project. He first gave his opinion on the milk shell. The iodine application through sponges and UV light between milkings of cows were both especially supported. They would both prevent the transfer of bacteria and hinder the growth of bacteria to begin with. The temperature sensor would be effective because a temperature change in an infected quarter of the udder is a common indicator of the occurrence of mastitis. Bill Morgan was overall very enthusiastic with our modified shell, and told us that many farmers including himself would invest in the purchase of a new device that would decrease the occurrence of mastitis. Usually, shells are a one-time purchase and only replaced when there is a better product in the market, which means that farmers would be willing to spend the money for an improvement of quality. Currently, shells range cost $40-$50, but Bill Morgan said he would spend $100-$200 for what we were offering, which would still be less than some other products on the market. This willingness comes from the fact that each case of mastitis could cost up to $300, and would permanently scar infected cows so that they would produce 10% less milk for the remaining duration of their milking days. Any way to decrease mastitis is therefore looked upon favorably. In addition, since he is able to identify the strain of bacteria for each case causing mastitis on his farm using a special plate, choosing a specific bacteriocin for treatment is better than traditional antibiotics. He also said that the microscope and app we were designing would be either more convenient or less costly than current management techniques for mastitis.