OvaCyte for Agriculture

Disease-causing parasites in farm animals don’t only negatively affect animal welfare, they cause production loss in livestock, causing significant economic loss to farmers and the agricultural industry as a whole.

According to a 2015 report on the economic impact of parasitic diseases in cattle, the annual economic loss due to internal and external parasites on cattle in Brazil alone was estimated to be at least USD13.96 billion.

A number of studies outlined in the report also showed that cows affected by gastrointestinal nematode infection produced less milk per day, indicating that parasite burdens in lactating cattle have an important impact on milk production, and therefore have a negative effect on the efficiency of dairy farms.

Fasciolosis (liver fluke) – probably the most common helminth infection in cattle – affects approximately 700 million cattle, which, according to studies conducted in Switzerland, can lead to a loss of €52 million per year. These economic losses result from drop in weight gain, liver disposing in slaughterhouses, increased susceptibility to secondary infections and metabolic disorders, weight loss, anaemia, decreased milk yield, reduction in reproductive efficiency and in some cases, mortality of the animal.

In a time when food demand is growing exponentially to serve the world population’s demand, livestock and agriculture hold a vital role in economic importance and food security.

OvaCyte™ creates a much-needed shortcut to parasite identification and analysis, bringing these previously laboratory-only parasite tests to the point of care, cutting out unnecessary packing, posting, waiting periods, production losses and costs.

With OvaCyte™, agricultural professionals can now go from faecal sample collection to full delivery of parasite results in minutes.