New tech innovation boosts feedlot safety and efficiency

George Gleeson’s family have been running cattle feedlots in Darling Downs for generations, so the engineer understands the day-to-day complexities of running a busy operation.

This boots-on-ground insight, plus Mr Gleeson’s engineering and robotics expertise, are behind a new Australian agtech startup, Bovision, that is developing computer vision technology to monitor cattle health in feedlots.

"My parents were feedlot farmers and I spent my early life on the farm in the Darling Downs and Meandarra area. When my parents moved away, my aunty and uncle continued to run and expand the feedlot and I’ve always maintained a connection to the place,” Mr Gleeson, Co-founder and CEO of Bovision said.

So, it’s fitting that the first location for this emerging feedlot technology to be installed, trialled and refined was the Penfold family’s feedlot, home of the Four Daughters Beef brand. A suite of cameras continuously monitors around 400 head of cattle spread across two pens. Importantly, there are no extra collars, tags or on-animal devices and no extra demands on the crew monitoring a feedlot.

“We have two overhead cameras in the shed that keep track of each animal and cameras at the water troughs that check their ear tag whenever they go for a drink,” Mr Gleeson explained.

“The cameras continuously track the animals and their behaviour – how long they spend at feed, how long they spend at the water, where they are in the pen and whether they’re close to other cattle or are isolating. The aim is to pick up any behavioural change in each animal sooner rather than later.

“Much of the time, a pen rider’s job is to ride through the feedlot looking for sick cattle. It’s a specialist job and there’s a shortage of people able to do it. Our system is being built to help automate that role, so that where a pen rider may usually be able to monitor 3,000 head of cattle, using the technology, they could monitor up to 10,000 head. Because the technology saves time by telling a pen rider exactly where to go and which animal to check.”

Mr Gleeson began an engineering degree which he put on hold after he was offered a job with a biotech business that grew algae for agricultural feed and functional foods and beverages.

“It was my role to design, build and support the electronics, automation systems and bioreactors to grow the algae, but I always wanted to use my technological knowledge to get back on the farm,” Mr Gleeson said.

Bovision launched in April 2026 and was recently selected for the 2027 evokeAG. Groundbreakers Program, which recognises new innovators who are developing practical industry solutions across the agrifood sector.

Bovision will also attend the AgriFutures evokeAG. 2027 event in Adelaide in February, where industry leaders and decision makers from across Australia, New Zealand and the Asia Pacific region will unveil and explore practical solutions to the most pressing challenges facing agriculture

“New technology in agriculture is vital – it’s the next step – but it has to make life easier. We’re not building technology for technology’s sake. We’re solving a real problem by improving the welfare of cattle and making it easier to run feedlots, which are the most efficient way to produce high-quality beef,” Mr Gleeson said.

Bovision is still in development and continues to be refined and will eventually incorporate camera, thermal and audio nodes. The system will also send alerts to warn feedlots of unfolding issues such as heat stress and illness.

Later this year, the non-invasive monitoring system will be installed in two further major feedlots in Darling Downs with more feedlots stepping up to trial the technology in 2027.

“We’ve received so much support from feedlot operators, industry and the agtech community who are excited to work with us and build this system. We wouldn’t be nearly as far along today as we are without all these incentives and support.

“There are so many problems in agriculture that can be solved with technology and automation and I simply want to build practical tools that help producers make better decisions and improve productivity.”

See the ideas moving from innovation to application, meet the people behind them and explore what they could mean for Australian agriculture at evokeAG. 2027. evokeag.com