Digital Dairy Chain

13/10/2026

🐄 🌱 🚜 This National Farmer's Day we wanted to highlight our latest case study which the partnership hopes can support farmers in their endless hard work daily!

Alec of Biocell Agri supports farmers with collecting feed samples to test for mycotoxins. The tests usually take around 10 days to be analysed in a lab, and although these are very accurate, speed of testing would have better outcomes for the farmers and the cattle.

This innovation voucher project brought SRUC together with Biocell Agri to test a simple lateral flow strip test that farmers could carry out themselves for rapid results.

🐄 All they really need is a blender and a space to carry out the test! Hear how the test could change testing for farmers.

02/10/2026

🌱 A project funded by our Collaborative R&D grant is turning waste milk proteins into high-value sustainable materials.

Grouse Fibre has been developing new ways to convert casein - the main protein found in milk - into technical fibres and other advanced materials. The work aims to create more value from dairy by-products while supporting a more sustainable, circular economy.

The project brought together dairy science and advanced materials engineering at SRUC's Dairy Research and Innovation Centre. Each day began with fresh milk collected directly from the Barony farm before being processed in the Dairy Research and Innovation Centre laboratory, where the milk was separated and the casein recovered.

Read more about the project here.

https://www.digitaldairychain.co.uk/waste-milk-proteins-transformed-into-sustainable-materials/

24/09/2026

Thanks to Rachael Hamilton MSP for lodging a motion at the Scottish Parliament welcoming our new Digitalising Dairy: A Future Skills Needs Assessment report, produced by UWS on behalf of the Digital Dairy Chain that we published last week.

🌱 The motion recognises the report's relevance to rural jobs and skills across the Scottish Borders, and the need for workforce skills to keep pace with rapid digital and technological change in the sector.

➡️ Read the motion: https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/votes-and-motions/S7M-01267

Read more about the Digitalising Dairy report and it's recommendations: https://www.digitaldairychain.co.uk/dairys-digital-future-at-risk-unless-skills-keep-pace/

22/09/2026

🥛 The milk drop associated with grass silage mycotoxins is an infrequent but costly problem for vets, farmers and their advisors.

🐄 Digital Dairy Chain, through our innovation voucher scheme, funded a joint project with farmers and industry to investigate the problem on 10 farms across the DDC region, together with an in depth investigation on one farm.

➡️ We are hosting a webinar where the project team will be presenting findings on the distribution and origin of mycotoxins in grass silage clamps and their effects on the dairy cow and what practical steps can be taken to help decrease mycotoxins in the clamp.

, , Silage Solutions,

📅 Date: Tuesday 6th October
⏰ Time: 7pm - 8pm

The webinar (held on Teams) is intended for farmers, vets and feed consultants. This event is relevant to anyone interested in dairy cow health and nutrition.

Register here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/2001873567730?aff=oddtdtcreator

17/09/2026

🌱 The J.P. Morgan GROW (Glasgow Region Opportunities for Work) programme is a £20million funded initiative that provides young people with hands-on industry experience, helping them develop skills, confidence, and awareness of future career opportunities.

🐄 Through the Think Dairy Careers campaign, we are connecting this initiative with the dairy and wider agricultural sector to inspire young people to explore the range of careers available in the industry.

🚜 The farm visit was hosted by East Law Farm last week in Lanarkshire and attended by around 20 school pupils. Pupils took part in a farm tour and heard from Andrew at East Law Farm and RHET Clyde , gaining insight into daily farm operations and the wide range of careers and specialist roles that support the dairy industry

14/09/2026

Dairy's digital future at risk unless skills keep pace

Today, with our Digital Dairy Chain partner, of the West of Scotland , we have published 'Digitalising Dairy: A Future Skills Needs Assessment for Productivity and Sustainability' which highlights a growing need for practical, technical and data skills across farms and the wider dairy supply chain.

📲 As dairy becomes more digital and data-driven, the report says the sector needs people who can combine traditional farming knowledge with technical, analytical and sustainability skills. It cites research showing that 84% of dairy farmers trying to recruit received very few or no suitably qualified applicants.

🌱 The report calls for clearer career pathways and practical training with stronger work experience routes, better rural connectivity and wider access for young people, women, career changers and ex-service personnel.

➡️ Read more about this work and read the full report: www.digitaldairychain.co.uk/dairys-digital-future-at-risk-unless-skills-keep-pace

11/09/2026

🍦🐄🧀

It has been a busy summer period for our Maker Space Coordinator Mark Robertson. The team have been out and about alongside acquiring some important new equipment to help us expand our offering, including a new state of the art ice cream maker and a lab scale spray dryer.

If you haven't already seen it, have a look at our case study from our work with Rowan Glen - linked in Mark's blog.

Another busy quarter for with a record number of enquiries and client prospecting in a 3 month period which is really exciting and positive.

07/09/2026

⭐ More award success!

We're delighted to share that Galebreaker has been awarded Highly Commended in the Innovation category at the Cream Awards last week for the development of CalfHub (CEVEC).

The project was given funding through Digital Dairy Chain's Collaborative R&D grant (UK Research and Innovation) and led to the development of CalfHub. CalfHub represents a new approach to calf housing, combining optimised ventilation, smart technology and practical design to support healthier, more productive calves.

The project was a collaboration between Galebreaker, SRUC and Ross and Katie Vance at High Skeog Farm in D&G.

Massive congratulations to the team on their win, we are delighted to have seen this project come to life and now grow in to the future!

🎥 You can watch our case study video on the project using the link in the comments.

03/09/2026

Digital Dairy Chain Programme Director, Pauline Murray, attended the Scottish Parliament last night for the announcement of the Nature of Scotland Awards shortlist for 2026.

We had nominated the amazing innovation voucher collaboration project of SRUC, .ai and Dalswinton Estate in Dumfries and Galloway looking at correlations between bird diversity alongside soil analysis and how those can bring benefits to the biodiversity of a farm.

🌱 We are delighted to say that the project has been shortlisted in the Farming with Nature category.

Congratulations to the team and good luck to all the worthy finalists for the upcoming awards. Watch this space for the case study coming soon!

01/09/2026

📊 Halfway there: what we achieved.

We’re pleased to share the Digital Dairy Chain mid-term report, which looks at the progress we made up to mid-way point of the project and the impact of our work across the dairy supply chain in south and west Scotland and Cumbria since our inception. We are now more than half way through, this is a snapshot of what we have been building on!

And the numbers tell an encouraging story:
🔹 230 unique businesses engaged
🔹 An additional 122 businesses supported
🔹 85 supported businesses based within the DDC region
🔹 £2.9m in grant funding
🔹 £620,000 in innovation voucher funding
🔹 47,000+ school pupils engaged in STEM

But it’s not just about the numbers.
Our support is reaching businesses at a wide range of stages, from start-ups and micro-businesses developing new ideas, through to established businesses looking to innovate their products, processes and ways of working.

The report demonstrates how a coordinated, industry-led approach to innovation can help drive productivity, sustainability and competitiveness across the dairy supply chain. 🥛🐄

📖 Read the full mid-term report on our website: https://www.digitaldairychain.co.uk/brc/digital-dairy-chain-mid-term-report/