Kiwi ingenuity taking the danger out of weighing cattle

Scanabull is a new mobile phone app to estimate the weight of cattle from four and a half metres away.
Photo: supplied

Waikato can lay claim to the development of the electric fence in the 1930s, thanks to inventor and farmer Bill Gallagher.

Now another another start-up from the same region is hoping to take the danger out of weighing cattle.

Scanabull co-founder Dan Bull grew up on a sheep and beef farm near Te Akau northwest of Hamilton.

After spending four years managing stock, he’s working full-time for his company, which has just raised $1.1 million to commercialise its WeighApp.

“Some animals are really easy to weigh, those really passive friendly lifestyle cows,” Bull said.

“When you get a big Friesian bull from 600 to 700 kilos – you can not weigh that if it doesn’t want to be weighed.

“They’re huge, they break posts, they break people, they do all sorts of random stuff, they fight each other.

“If you get in the way of that you’re in trouble, there’s a layer of danger there.”

Traditionally farmers use a bull pen or weigh crates, or experienced operators use their eyes to estimate the weight of cattle.
Photo: supplied

Bull concedes farmers are used to handling unruly stock, but the new app should make life easier by measuring in a flash.

He said a cell phone can now be used to weigh cattle in the yards, from a range of about 4.5m away.

The technology uses a iPhone’s LiDAR sensor to scan the animal in 3D, sending out pulses and measuring how long they take to bounce back form different points.

Trials are underway with Silver Fern Farms, and the new technology was the talk of a recent Angus breeders tour when farmers visited a range of studs in Northland.

Bull said another handy tool in the pipeline can weigh stock out in the paddock.

“When they go for a drink at the trough, it can take an image of them, reports back and the farmer can see that on his or her computer at night.”

He said access to more accurate data across the supply chain will be an advantage.

From left: Scanabull founders Paul Sealock (founding engineer), Dan Bull (chief executive), Daniel Stuart-Jones (chief technology officer), and Ursula Haywood, (chief commercial officer).
Photo: supplied

“Many animals are bought and sold based on visual estimates rather than objective measurements.

“And processors often have very little reliable data about animals before they arrive at the plant.”

The company’s raise was led by Sprout Agritech, with support from Enterprise Angels and Callaghan Innovation’s Deep Tech Incubator programme.

It’s hoping to get the new app to the market by the middle of the year following trials.