Jayden Neal brings technology expertise to advance a milking process that can be used on his family farm and national dairy farms.
Jayden Neal always knew that after graduating from RIT he would return to work on the technology side of his family’s dairy farm. What he didn’t expect was that he would do it with a product on its way to commercialization that changes the milking process.
The Vortex is an udder washing and sterilization system that is lightweight, more ergonomic, and with improved nozzle and grip functions over the current system on the market. Neal provided the technology know-how behind the product, which is the first for his family’s startup company, Udder Ways.
Neal will begin work as Udder Ways’ chief technology officer after he graduates this May with a bachelor’s degree in robotics and manufacturing engineering technology from the College of Engineering Technology. The company will be based on his family’s Orleans Poverty Hill Farm in Albion, N.Y.
“I got exposure to a lot of the tools, processes, and methodology engineers use. It was really helpful having that knowledge and reinforcement, things like information in the circuits courses and PCB design led to developing a more efficient control system,” he said.
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When Neal was 13, he had already been experimenting with how to improve the equipment needed to milk the 600-plus dairy cows on his family’s farm. But it wasn’t until Neal could use his skills in robotics, manufacturing, and engineering processes that he was able to finalize the control system on the tool.
“We are a third-generation dairy farm. We have quite a history here,” said Neal. “We always wanted to try to make things more efficient and try new things.”
Preparation for milking is labor intensive, requiring applications of a sanitizer, drying, and stimulation of milk flow. The Vortex combines those steps, reducing manual work and chances of contamination. Neal, along with his father, Jody, who provided design ideas on paper, experimented with alternatives to brushes that might injure cows. The younger Neal 3D printed design prototypes to test.
The result is a patented, lightweight, hand-held tool that uses a fluid-whirling operation rather than brushes.
“Students come to programs like ours in the College of Engineering Technology looking to take fundamental engineering principles and apply them to solve practical problems,” said Beth Carle, professor and department head of manufacturing and mechanical engineering technology. “Jayden is an example of this success. He has used his analytical skills to identify a problem affecting not only his family’s farm, but the broader dairy industry, and then applied his technical and entrepreneurial skills to solve the problem.”
There are more than 3,000 dairy farms in New York state, from small artisanal farms to mid-sized spreads like Neal’s, as well as larger corporations. All contribute to the nearly 15 billion pounds of milk produced yearly, the fifth largest producer in the U.S.
Udder Ways has received multiple awards, most recently, $500,000 from Grow-NY Food & Agriculture Startup Competition.
Through the accelerator program REV: Ithaca Startup Works, Neal is exploring business requirements from certifications to seeking a firm to do the injection molding for the device.
“People have been seeking alternatives and that led to other products, but those other products had some drawbacks, which kind of opened the door for us,” he said. “It showed a need for the product, and we are having a ridiculous amount of demand for this right now. We really hope to meet that soon.”
Meeting the demand is within reach, in part, because of Neal’s choice for college.
“I found that at RIT, there was such a wide variety of classes, clubs, and a lot of industry experiences. Those were some of the key reasons for me coming here and it’s been great,” said Neal. “Our company, it’s nothing I ever would have predicted, but it excites me that we are able to succeed, to get something out there that farmers like. Hopefully this might lead to more products down the road.”
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