It's hard work, really hard work, often requiring tremendous resources (lactation consultants, machines that make you feel like a dairy cow, shields and all sorts of bizarre contraptions) that can take weeks, even months, to get right.

WSJ: One Sure Formula for Controversy

Even Swiss farmers outside the city centre encourage brave tourists to saddle up and ride their famous brown dairy cows on a day of cow trekking.

BBC: The stranger side of Switzerland

Relied on by generations of Indians for tilling fields, dairy products and dung fuel, the cow is regarded by Hindus as gau mata, or maternal figure, and has had a long-standing central role in India's religious rituals.

CNN: Growing beef trade hits India's sacred cow

The vast majority of dairy cows in the country are Holsteins, a breed that typically produces more milk per cow than others.

FORBES: Why Milk Isn't As "Natural" As You Think

In addition to the liver function test, DFA is developing tests for milk spoilage and cow pregnancy, which it hopes to test in Kenya with an East African dairy collective.

FORBES: Startup's Stamp-Size "Lab on a Chip" Tracks Disease in Remote Areas