{"id":351521,"date":"2026-03-28T01:40:10","date_gmt":"2026-03-28T01:40:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/351521\/"},"modified":"2026-03-28T01:40:10","modified_gmt":"2026-03-28T01:40:10","slug":"kiwi-ingenuity-taking-the-danger-out-of-weighing-cattle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/351521\/","title":{"rendered":"Kiwi ingenuity taking the danger out of weighing cattle"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Scanabull,<\/p>\n

\nScanabull is a new mobile phone app to estimate the weight of cattle from four and a half metres away.
\nPhoto: supplied\n<\/p>\n

Waikato can lay claim to the development of the electric fence in the 1930s, thanks to inventor and farmer Bill Gallagher.<\/p>\n

Now another another start-up from the same region is hoping to take the danger out of weighing cattle.<\/p>\n

Scanabull co-founder Dan Bull grew up on a sheep and beef farm near Te Akau northwest of Hamilton.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

“Some animals are really easy to weigh, those really passive friendly lifestyle cows,” Bull said.<\/p>\n

“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.<\/p>\n

“They’re huge, they break posts, they break people, they do all sorts of random stuff, they fight each other.<\/p>\n

“If you get in the way of that you’re in trouble, there’s a layer of danger there.”<\/p>\n

\"Tangihau<\/p>\n

\nTraditionally farmers use a bull pen or weigh crates, or experienced operators use their eyes to estimate the weight of cattle.
\nPhoto: supplied\n<\/p>\n

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

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

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Bull said another handy tool in the pipeline can weigh stock out in the paddock.<\/p>\n

“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.”<\/p>\n

He said access to more accurate data across the supply chain will be an advantage.<\/p>\n

\"From<\/p>\n

\nFrom left: Scanabull founders Paul Sealock (founding engineer), Dan Bull (chief executive), Daniel Stuart-Jones (chief technology officer), and Ursula Haywood, (chief commercial officer).
\nPhoto: supplied\n<\/p>\n

“Many animals are bought and sold based on visual estimates rather than objective measurements.<\/p>\n

“And processors often have very little reliable data about animals before they arrive at the plant.”<\/p>\n

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

It’s hoping to get the new app to the market by the middle of the year following trials.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Scanabull is a new mobile phone app to estimate the weight of cattle from four and a half…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":351522,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[48,47,111,43,139,69,49,46,44,45,145],"class_list":["post-351521","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-technology","tag-audio","tag-current-affairs","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-podcasts","tag-public-radio","tag-radio-new-zealand","tag-rnz","tag-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/351521","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=351521"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/351521\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/351522"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=351521"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=351521"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=351521"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}