710453Aid for Birthing Cattle in dystocia (ABC)ClosedGRD Proof of ConceptInnovate UKDairy farming is the largest UK agricultural sector at £3.5bn and represents 17% of agricultural production (Defra, 2013). Dairy cows must give birth in order to produce milk, but difficulty in birthing (dystocia) costs UK dairy farmers £83m/yr. Significant improvements to birthing process are needed to improve welfare and protect dairy farmers’ income (Dairyco, 2013). Vets & farmers need a safe method of assisting birth (Holstein, 2013). Destiny’s experienced developers have designed a Birthing Aid based on an idea patented (No. 1016373.1) by Destiny’s partner Bruce Sutherland (large animal Veterinary Surgeon), who has given Destiny exclusive development and exploitation rights. The Aid would be used by Vet or Stockman at the first sign of dystocia to gently expand a cows’ birthing canal, increasing pelvic flexibility and stimulating a safe natural birth, thereby increasing welfare and protecting farmers’ income. Initial responses from Holstein, DairyCo, vets and British Veterinary Association are extremely favourable but to add support they need evidence from live and comparative trials. This 12month project will develop using a bench prototype with durable Microkinetic materials, an inflation/release mechanism, and infection control tool to maximise performance. We will run trials with respected vets, breeders and schools to establish benefits. Based on discussions with vets, we estimate the Aid would help in 60% of dystocia. By 2020, with 2/3 adoption, the Aid could prevent 165k cow and calf birthing deaths in UK alone. This will save UK dairy farmers £28.8m/yr and vets will earn £830k/yr from sales and demonstration. At the end of this project we will then set-up a new Ltd company (Destiny Developments Ltd) to develop the Aid and raise private funding for commercial development and exploitation in UK and globally.