The unique Cattle Eye – the world's first hardware-independent autonomous livestock monitoring platform – was crowned the winner of the Royal Dairy Innovation Award at Dairy-Tech, last week.

The award, sponsored by CIEL, was given to a product which can be used to detect locomotion deviations, which point to detecting early lameness in dairy cows. The product is thought to be the first to undergo successful academic validation by a leading UK university.

Competition judge and RABDF council member, Tim Downes, said they chose the product due to the early and accurate lameness detection in cows. "Cattle Eye supports farmers' observations, is cheap to install and doesn't require any collars. It has the potential to help farmers tackle lameness early in their herds. They are also working towards a body condition score element," he said.

The two runners up were DigiFarm Data Tool and DeLaval Flow Responsive Milking.

DigiFarm Data Tool is a web-based solution for Vetpartners vets, vet staff and farm clients which integrates clinical and farm management records, bringing together milk records and health data to create unique reports.

DeLaval's Flow Responsive Milking uses actual milk flow to adjust milking parameters like vacuum and pulsation to create a more efficient milk flow profile.