milking machines can now have a system to detect whether a cow has developed mastitis (inflammation of udders) or not. The system can detect early signs of mastitis much before the painful inflammation develops, by monitoring the electrical conductivity of milk as it passes the milking machine.

The infected cells of the teats and udder leak sodium ions into the milk, increasing its conductivity. This increased electrical conductivity is detected by the machine. The system is being tested at the Institute for Animal Health in Compton, Berkshire, uk ( New Scientist , 29 June '96).

Data from the sensors are fed into a software, which thus gets updated on the conductivity history of each teat of each cow in a particular herd. Thus, a precise mastitis-monitoring system is ready. Till date, none of the conductivity measuring techniques were sensitive and perfect enough to be put to use. Manufacturers are also developing systems that will monitor milk very fast by using software that can make out real problems from background