Lab Focus: State of the art accrediated laboratory testing facility

Lab Focus by Dena Snidall BSc (Hons), Head of Laboratory Operations, The Cattle Information Service

At the heart of CIS is the Laboratory based centrally in Shropshire.  UKAS accredited to ISO / IEC 17025:2017 the laboratory features innovative state of the art equipment used for each milk recorded sample that is analysed uniformly to extract a wealth of information stored within. The laboratory has dedicated areas for Animal Health testing. Techniques such as Elisa and Realtime PCR are used on milk, blood and tissue sample types. Since opening the CIS Laboratory in 2012 testing numbers have increased rapidly for both compositional testing and Health testing with over 4 million tests being processed a year. The laboratory has been championed worldwide drawing visitors to view the portfolio of testing carried out. 

CIS strive to be on top of new and exciting developments in the analysis of milk recorded samples to ensure the farmer is getting the most information out of the sample to use for herd management.

Milk holds a wealth of valuable information which a farm can use to make strategic decisions about how to manage each individual animal or the herd as a whole. It is CIS’ aim to continuously find the best way to extract as much information as possible.

Routine testing of all individual milk cows can lead to an extensive portfolio of information which can be assessed for individual cow or herd status. Informed decisions are easier to make.

Since opening the CIS Laboratory in 2012 testing numbers have increased rapidly for both compositional testing and Health testing with over 4 million tests being processed a year. With a substantial recent investment and build of the new Laboratory at Scope House there is amble space available to futureproof expansion and potentially double the fleet. Brand new equipment has taken testing to a new level with the focus on sustainability and using spectral data to help with key indicators. It has enabled compositional testing turnaround to improve with the laboratory reporting results from the time of arrival at the laboratory to less than 24 hours. 

Compositional analysis of milk is performed on the latest combi instruments from FOSS. Each sample is placed into air baths to warm to the required temperature and using an automated system each sample is treated and tested uniformly reducing any human error. These instruments can analyse 600 samples each per hour. Each batch of samples is validated using internal quality control samples to ensure validity of the analysers and results prior to reporting. Once the samples from one herd have been verified the results are reported automatically and reports available. The process from adding to the automation to farm getting reports for eg. A herd of 200 cows would be less than an hour.

The laboratory has dedicated areas for Animal Health testing. Techniques such as Elisa and Realtime PCR are used on milk, blood and tissue sample types. Each test run is validated by a series of kit controls and internal reference controls prior to reporting. Testing is carried out 7 days a week.

A highly sophisticated and developed Quality Management System is in place to ensure full confidence in each result reported.

• Compositional analysis for Butterfat, Protein, Lactose, Urea and Somatic Cell counts
• Capability for analysis of Fatty acids and Ketosis
• State of the art automation and equipment to ensure fast turnaround of results
• Full traceability of each sample
• Samples analysed uniformly to ensure full traceability and confidence in each result
• Ever expanding Elisa Health testing suite from the one milk recorded sample
• Milk analysis for Johnes, BVD, IBR, Leptosira, Neospora
• Pregcheck screening service
• BVDV Tissue and Blood analysis
• Jones blood analysis
• BVDV PCR analysis

Our site in Telford also has comprehensive meeting room facilities to host tours with meetings and hospitality.

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