About Us
eCow Devon Limited is an agriculture technology company based in Exeter in the South West of England, formed by the eminent dairy industry engineer Professor Toby Mottram. In 2001 Professor Mottram was asked by a major pharmaceutical company to develop a bolus to measure pH in the reticulum. He formed eCow Limited in 2007 and Milkalyser Ltd in 2016.
As the eCow team is small, all of it’s members play a crucial part in keeping the company running smoothly. Everyday we rely on their efforts to the ensure that our products are manufactured to the highest possible standard, but also that we provide exceptional quality customer support.
All of our boluses are manufactured, tested and then shipped from eCow’s office based at Exeter Science Park.
Meet the Team
Toby Mottram FREng is the founder of eCow and a prominent figure in the UK agricultural engineering sector. Up until March 2017, he held the position of Douglas Bomford Trust Professor of Farm Mechanisation at the Royal Agricultural University, Cirencester, where he taught wireless sensor data capture and analysis in farm situations. During his career he has co-invented robotic milking, developed cow breath sampling, in-line milk progesterone analysis and, in 2003, the rumen telemetry bolus. After Silsoe Research Institute closed in 2005 he continued development of the pH bolus eventually producing a commercially viable product which he has sold worldwide through eCow since 2011.
In 2016 he held a BBSRC/Royal Society of Edinburgh Enterprise Fellowship which allowed him to develop Milkalyser, a business that will revolutionise dairy cow fertility. He has been elected as a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering and is a Fellow of the Institution of Agricultural Engineers. Toby has just completed another degree in Computing and Statistics and is looking forward to having more time to walk the hills, go to the opera, sail and play with my grandchildren.
Toby Mottram
After an academic life in civil and agricultural engineering, in the USA and the UK, I left academe in 1999 to co-found Receptional, an internet marketing company, as director of operations. However, I have recently stepped back from that role, which allows me more time to fulfil my duties as a director at Unicorn Trails (worldwide horse riding holidays) for whom I have ridden in many places around the world, checking out the more adventurous new rides and escorting larger groups. I was invited to become a director of eCow in 2008. In my leisure time, I practice natural horsemanship with two horses, which we keep on our land and stables at our back gate where we have old tractors and farm machinery to help with the upkeep. When the weather is not so good, I busy myself in my workshop where I build model railway locomotives. More at: www.davidlosmith.co.uk
Dr David L. O. Smith
Leah started her career working in Food and Environmental Microbiology, before running her own businesses whilst studying Design and Innovation with the Open University. Leah has worked in a number of roles including agricultural animal welfare, charitable marketing and fundraising. Leah joined eCow in 2012. In her spare time she enjoys spending quality time with her young son, painting and camping while exploring the wonderful Cornish coast.
Leah Wade