How would you manage your cattle differently (or your sheep for that matter) if you could diagnose pregnancy at day 16? 

This week on the podcast, Mark chats with Bronwyn Darlington, a trailblazer in the field of disruptive innovation and sustainable agriculture. Bronwyn shares her journey through various ventures and projects, one of which is AgScent.
“My area of expertise is looking at the complex systems that interact as far as technology is concerned - to come together to create serious disruption,” explains Bronwyn. “What is life going to be like if you were actually standing on the horizon in 10 years and looking back? What technologies would you be surrounded by?” she asks.

“If you thought about what your mobile phone was 20 years ago or 10 years ago, project that out for another 10 years and think of what else that would change. What major disruptions will that cause? And then the task is to build the bridge back.”

One of these bridges is AgScent. Bronwyn had been to the US looking at emerging disruptive technologies with university students when she realised that there had been substantial breakthroughs in medical diagnostic technologies and also our ability to build and understand algorithms and create neural networks.
Bronwyn returned home (a 5,000-acre property in the southern tablelands of New South Wales) where cattle were being pregnancy-tested “ … the same way we've done since pretty much the pyramids,” says Bronwyn. “I was absolutely struck by how the livestock sector has been so hamstrung by our inability to get the benefits that, say, cropping gets with robotics … that other sectors are getting with new technologies. And I wanted to put those two pieces together.”

And so Agscent was born: “If we can look into the breath of a human now and identify lung cancer, why can't I look into the breath of a cow?”. By identifying specific volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in the breath, Agscent can distinguish pregnant cows from non-pregnant ones as early as 16 days post-insemination.

As a next step, the development of technology to measure methane was a no-brainer for Bronwyn. Agscent now sells a versatile GHG sensor unit that can be used both indoors and outdoors to measure methane and carbon dioxide continually (and can be used for both individual and group measurements). AgScent is also working alongside last week's podcast guests, Optiweigh, and have integrated their methane sensor into the weighing platform. 

For the moment, Agscent can provide early pregnancy diagnosis and methane detection. Bronwyn’s plans for the future include broader applications to other livestock species, such as pigs and sheep, with the potential to detect diseases like bovine respiratory disease and pleurisy. 

Tune in to discover how Bronwyn’s ventures are pushing the boundaries of what’s possible in agriculture and how they can support changes in your own farming practices.

Head Shepherd is brought to you by neXtgen Agri International Limited. We help livestock farmers get the most out of the genetics they farm with. Get in touch with us if you would like to hear more about how we can help you do what you do best: info@nextgenagri.com.

Thanks to our sponsors at MSD Animal Health and Allflex, and Heiniger Australia and New Zealand. Please consider them when making product choices, as they are instrumental in enabling us to bring you this podcast each week.

Check out Heiniger's product range HERE
Check out the MSD range HERE
Check out Allflex products HERE