Handheld breath test device for pregnant cattle to move to industry trials

A device that could change the way farmers preg test cattle is a step closer to commercialisation.

The federal government has offered $600,000 to help a company adapt advances in medicine for use in the grazing industry.

The prototype works by simply putting a device over the cow’s nose while it is in the crush and testing its breath.

Bronwyn Darlington, a farmer at Carwoola in southern NSW and the founder and CEO of Agscent, said the device worked by applying nanotechnologies to what was called breathomics.

“The device collects the cow’s breath and analyses it using nano-sensors to pick up the differences between pregnant and non-pregnant animals,” Ms Darlington said.