£400,000 of funding geared to higher fertility and breeding productivity in UK and Canadian dairy and beef herds has been awarded to an agritech and biotech group led by RAFT Solutions in Ripon. According to funding provider UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), “the project will transform genetic progress, through adoption of precision technologies, diagnostics, advanced breeding and big data, leading to more sustainable livestock production and export opportunities.”
This transatlantic initiative has parallel financial support from Canadian government funding body IRAP for a Canadian partner, Bow Valley Genetics. It also involves XL Vets practices in UK and Canada, and the Universities of Guelph and Saskatchewan.
In practical terms, the project’s aims include higher conception rates and thereby fewer breeding cycles, according to Jonathan Statham at RAFT Solutions. He says this will come about through screening for higher quality semen and embryos, thereby delivering the promise of genomics by actually producing more calves that join the herd with better health and fertility.
“Of course, farmers well know that fertility is a major factor in dairy and beef productivity,” he says. “By reducing the avoidable waste of genetic potential caused by impaired fertility, a farm’s carbon footprint and financial performance are improved markedly by streamlined production and lower essential numbers of non-earning youngstock.”
One of RAFT’s UK project partners is a biomedical specialist that has invented a way of transporting cells used in blood and bone marrow cancer treatments, for example, without storage in liquid nitrogen. “Applied to transporting semen and embryos, this has potential to reduce the cost and barriers to germplasm transport globally,” explains Jon Statham.
Two further RAFT partners have developed a new marker for assessing and potentially enhancing semen quality, and a mobile semen testing unit. “Clearly, when used at semen collection, these techniques enable greater quality control at source, and will flag up bulls with impaired fertility,” he adds.
New on-farm applications will be tested via the XL Vets national networks in UK and Canada and RAFT has already set up a satellite “SemenRate” laboratory in Canada. Jon Statham emphasises that there’s no time like the present to make a start on focusing on sustainability at farm level. “It’ll put money in the farm bank account,” he says. “This is because it involves increasing productivity; that is, the balance of production and inputs, not necessarily total production.
“For most dairy and beef farms, there’s plenty of knowledge how to do this already. Calving heifers at 24 months and achieving an annual rather than 13 months-plus breeding cycle are two examples that this project will help many more farmers to achieve.”
The funding is awarded through UKRI’s “UK-Canada: enhancing agricultural productivity and sustainability competition”. The competition format brought together UK and Canadian companies, through online and in-person events, to identify and build project concepts in sustainable agriculture. RAFT Solutions’ UK project partners are Atelerix (stem cell transport), Ostara Biomedical (semen quality marker) and Dyneval UK (mobile semen testing) with Bow Valley Genetics in Canada and XL Vets practices in UK and Canada including Kirkton Veterinary Clinic and Bow Valley Livestock Health.
In addition to RAFT Solutions, six other UK winners are Arden Biotechnology, Devenish, Precision Decisions, Airborne Robotics, Clarity Biosolutions and RS AQUA. With each, Canadian partners will receive funding support through the National Research Council of Canada Industrial Research Assistance Program (NRC IRAP).
