A new device that can test a dung sample for gut parasites within 30 minutes has been created by an Irish company named Telenostic Vision.

Speaking at the Advancing Agri-Tech conference in Kilkenny on Monday, co-founder Clare Hughes said the device, costing €700 to €800, tests for gut parasites in healthy and sick animals. Dung sampling is currently only available by sending samples to a laboratory, which is slower, while Telenostic Vision is aiming to be cheaper than lab testing. Hughes said treating animals with an appropriate drug is important because of growing anthelmintic resistance: “At the moment it probably costs €17-€20 for a [laboratory] dung sample, ours will probably be around €15.”