Patent ID: 7757635

Claim:
A method of testing milk from a mammal for a presence of an infection in the mammal, the method comprising: forming a reaction chamber having an interior volume; increasing said interior volume of said reaction chamber so as to draw a liquid sample of the milk directly from a milk line of an automated milking system into said interior volume of said reaction chamber; drawing a reagent into said interior volume of said reaction chamber, said reagent having a light-amplifying compound therein; reacting said light-amplified compound with a substance produced by cells of the mammal in response to the infection prior to the liquid sample being introduced into said reaction chamber; activating a light detector to a measure a peak of emitted light from a reaction between the light-amplifying compound and the substance produced by the cells, the step of activating the light detector being immediately after the steps of drawing the liquid sample of the milk and drawing the reagent.