Real time herd health monitoring compared to conventional, periodic (often delayed) lab testing.

Labby is a startup that provides AI-enabled optical sensing for raw milk testing on the farm. Using the Labby Handheld milk analyzer and a software, MilKey by Labby, the company gives milk composition and quality information, including milk fat, protein and somatic cell count (SCC), using advanced mobile spectroscopy and AI. This enables early mastitis detection and prevention, drastically reducing dairy farmers’ losses. (MIT News)

Labby fights mastitis

Labby was founded by CEO Julia Somerdin SDM ’13 and former MIT Media Lab postdoc Anshuman Das.

“Everyone understands the power of data to improve health,” says Somerdin. “It’s just like how home care and [data collection devices] for humans have transformed health care.”

Lack of timely data on cows’ health can result in rapid spread of diseases, particularly mastitis, an infection that lowers milk quality and is painful for the animal. However, Labby’s scanner and software can pick up rising levels of somatic cell count (SCC), an indicator of infection and potential outbreak of mastitis.

By acting on a timely warning, farmers can prevent the disease, ensuring the health of the cows and the quality of their milk.

Labby claims its solution is a rapid, low cost, and lab-quality solution that gives actionable data to farmers in under 10 seconds, instead of weeks of waiting for a lab result.

“Not only is Labby affordable for farmers, the savings gained can offset the hardware investment in less than 6 months,” says the company.

Milk quality certification platform

“We’re a hardware company, but we see data as the key to our solution,” Somerdin says. “We want to become a milk quality certification platform, which will improve confidence in the industry and for the consumer. In the industry, farmers can better maintain animal health and buyers will know they’re picking up milk from the highest quality farms with good milk. And for the consumer, increased transparency allows farmers to communicate with the public and prove they’re treating their animals well.”

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