{"id":427079,"date":"2026-01-21T05:46:20","date_gmt":"2026-01-21T05:46:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/427079\/"},"modified":"2026-01-21T05:46:20","modified_gmt":"2026-01-21T05:46:20","slug":"wa-meat-processor-says-using-ai-for-counting-livestock-has-improved-accuracy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/427079\/","title":{"rendered":"WA meat processor says using AI for counting livestock has improved accuracy"},"content":{"rendered":"

One of Western Australia’s largest meat processors is using artificial intelligence to count sheep with pinpoint accuracy.<\/p>\n

V&V Walsh introduced the technology to improve accuracy at its Bunbury abattoir, 150 kilometres south of Perth, which processes more than 1 million head of sheep and cattle each year.<\/p>\n

Loading…<\/p>\n

V&V Walsh is one of the South West region’s largest local employers, with about 650 staff, but the company insists the technology has not created any redundancies.<\/p>\n

General manager Brent Dancer said the “quite impressive” technology was revolutionising the sheep delivery process.<\/p>\n

“We’ve now got the ability to cross-reference an AI camera count versus a manual count versus the numbers going across our scales,” he said.<\/p>\n

“We’ve now got three or four different data points to cross-reference to get to the right outcome for a producer.”<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Brent Dancer says the company is leaning into new technologies in the hope of improving efficiency. (ABC Sputh West WA: Madigan Landry)<\/p>\n

Mr Dancer said managing a facility that handled up to 5,000 heads of cattle, sheep and lambs per day, meant accurate counts were valuable for processors and farmers.<\/p>\n

“You’re talking a couple of hundred dollars a head for a good sheep, thousands of dollars for a good cattle,” he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

The AI technology uses a camera above the race counting sheep as they come off trucks. (ABC South West WA: Madigan Landry)<\/p>\n

“We’ve had a number of instances where the paperwork is actually less than what’s been delivered and so we always pay off the count of physical through the floor.<\/p>\n

“For the producer, they want to really ensure that they’re getting paid properly and we want to make sure that we’ve got the confidence we’re paying the farmer exactly what they’ve sent in to us.”<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Accurate headcounts are vital to ensuring farmers are paid correctly for the sheep and cattle they deliver. (ABC South West WA: Madigan Landry)<\/p>\n

Industry adoption on the horizon<\/p>\n

Mr Dancer expected the technology to be applied more broadly.<\/p>\n

“[The technology] has come so far it’s actually been a really seamless process and, again, probably an easy adoption for industry right across the board,” he said.<\/p>\n

“I suspect across the country, people are going to start to really look at this sort of technology to assist with the process because livestock is getting more and more expensive.”<\/p>\n

\"Sheep<\/p>\n

The technology is benefiting producers and processors, the company says. (ABC South West WA: Madigan Landry)<\/p>\n

The AI cameras have reduced the need for a counter, a job dreaded by industry workers.<\/p>\n

“It’s obviously been a pain point in the industry for some time \u2014- the dread of having to count 1,000 sheep off a truck coming forward at a time,” Mr Dancer said.<\/p>\n

“We’re trying to really lean into AI and technology now to help with that process.”<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Darren Brady says he’s more confident head counts are correct thanks to the AI. (ABC South West WA: Madigan Landry)<\/p>\n

Pressure off staff<\/p>\n

V&V Walsh plant manager Darren Brady said AI improved accuracy while taking the pressure off staff.<\/p>\n

“The staff that use it, actually in the stockyards, were a bit nervous to start with, but they’ve taken it on board and they love it,” he said.<\/p>\n

“If we are questioned in any way, shape or form, we can go back to the footage and we can review it and it will tell us exactly what was there.<\/p>\n

“Time-wise, I don’t think it’s saving that much, but it’s more about the accuracy of it and being able to go back and verify.”<\/p>\n

\"People<\/p>\n

V&V Walsh is one of the largest employers in the South West region. (ABC South West WA: Madigan Landry)<\/p>\n

Mr Brady said AI could increase opportunities for employment as the processing plant increases efficiency.<\/p>\n

“We’ve got plans to grow the business and that sort of stuff, so with a more efficient room, putting more and more technology in,” he said.<\/p>\n

“Obviously, employment is a bit of a struggle at the moment for everyone, not just this industry.<\/p>\n

“However, I think there will be an opportunity for more employment here at V&V.”<\/p>\n

Mr Dancer confirmed there were no redundancies as a result of the AI.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"One of Western Australia’s largest meat processors is using artificial intelligence to count sheep with pinpoint accuracy. V&V…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":427080,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[34443,224156,256,224154,224153,224152,254,255,64,63,13331,15158,34445,2185,25656,105,224155,45],"class_list":["post-427079","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-artificial-intelligence","tag-abattoir","tag-abattoir-jobs","tag-ai","tag-ai-abattoir","tag-ai-sheep","tag-ai-sheep-counting","tag-artificial-intelligence","tag-artificialintelligence","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-cattle","tag-livestock","tag-meat-processing","tag-rural","tag-sheep","tag-technology","tag-vv-walsh","tag-wa-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/427079","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=427079"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/427079\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/427080"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=427079"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=427079"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=427079"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}