A GIPPSLAND dairy farmer's humble invention is the inaugural winner of the Great State of Ag Seed Fund Prize.
Robert Low, who milks 239 cows at Trafalgar with his wife Karen, received the $10,000 prize at last week's Farm World for his unique heat strap, which determines when cows ready for artificial insemination (AI).
The strap was the most popular invention in the Rural Finance competition, collecting 155 Facebook votes.
"I am surprised," Mr Low said.
"But I don't want to become a millionaire out of this. My reason for designing this is still the same - to make it easier to see when cows are on heat.
"I wanted to develop something that gave a definite answer; yes or no."
The concept was born after Mr Low experienced a poor submission rate four years ago.
"As my herd only calves once a year it was disastrous. After a lot of analysis, I realised my heat detection equipment was simply not good enough," he said.
"When you miss that point, it really leads to massive losses in production."
He said most cows generally came on heat overnight and about 70pc of the head would be picked up.
"But it's that other 30pc you need help with."
Mr Low said other mainstream heat detection devices were costly, and also required upgrades in on-farm systems to use.
So he decided to develop his own, and soon afterwards teamed with a Sydney electronic engineering firm to develop the heat strap.
The system encompasses a strip that clips around a cow's lower leg and uses an algorithm to analyse behaviours consistent with the peak of her reproductive cycle.
The strap can be observed each time a cow comes to the dairy and flashes when the animal is ready for insemination.
The point-of-difference with his invention is that it did not need a computerised dairy system.
Mr Low said he wanted his invention to achieve 90pc accuracy.
In his Gippsland herd, the device has hit 74pc accuracy.
But a number of trials with dairy farmers were underway to help improve results, as well as test the resilience of the strap and the waterproof, shock-proof "enclosure" that houses the sensitive electronic components.
"We are about to go into a trial involving 4000 of the latest batch of prototypes," he said.
"If the results are positive, I'll get it manufactured commercially."
The prize money from the Great State of Ag competition will be used to cover manufacturing and development costs.
He said dairy farmers had shown plenty of interest.
As well as being a one-off cost (he estimates each unit to cost between $25-$40); he said producers would be interested in the device because it would influence their bottom line.
"The biggest profit driver of any farm is getting cows in-calf," Mr Low said. "A tighter calving spread, it is going to be good."
While he was looking forward to developing the strap further, he said there were several obstacles influencing results, including weather and the lifespan of the battery pack.
"I will just be happy if I can see some great results and I can keep farming - and that this pays for itself."
Rural Finance agribusiness general manager Andrew Smith said the award proved innovative and creative thinking was at the heart of Australian agriculture.
He was thrilled to see a Victorian designed and manufactured innovation take out the award.
