Automated cattle crush set to improve animal welfare and operator efficiency

The Australian feedlot industry has been identified as a sector where implementing automation would result in enhanced efficiency and profitability. Through employing automation during the feedlot induction process, there is potential to reduce labour requirements and decrease stress on cattle.

To explore opportunities in feedlot automation, MLA supported ‘Demonstration of the Te Pari automated cattle handler at a commercial feedlot’, a pilot project that evaluated an automated cattle handler or crush designed by Te Pari.

The auto handler features automated:

• catch and restraint
• delivery of animal health treatments
• weighing and software integration.

Jeremy Blampied, Te Pari Global Sales Manager, said the new technology is a response to priorities identified in previous research. 

“The highest priorities were catching the animals with head and full body restraint technology,” Jeremy said.

“We also built the tech for automation of animal health treatments, so not only are the treatments auto-calibrated to suit the exact weight of the animal...it means operators don’t have to put their hands in the crush.”

The animal health treatments include a spray bar for backlining, as well as three additional auto-calibrated dosing guns for other treatments. 

Weights, treatments and dosage are automatically recorded against an eID, which is scanned when the animal is secured in the crush.

The demonstration site  

The commercial feedlot used for this project, Charlton Feedlot, is in Victoria and is owned by Teys Australia Pty Ltd. Over a year, a total of 1,238 animals were inducted through the Te Pari crush across 10 separate induction events. 

The trial proved promising for the new technology, which incorporated elements that had been used within sheep systems for a long time. 

“Both Te Pari and Teys were happy with the trial, which allowed us to refine the automation,” Jeremy said. 

Staff at the feedlot reported that the use of the automated crush allowed for a reduction in physical demand on their personnel.

Improved efficiency

Sam Gladman, Livestock Supervisor at Charlton Feedlot, was the coordinator for all the pilot activities at the feedlot and was also the operator of the automated crush. 

Sam said there was potential to improve efficiency and labour challenges using the technology. 

“Less is always better when it comes to cattle. The fewer people you have, the smoother it runs and cattle are a lot happier to flow through,” Sam explained. 

One of the benefits is reducing the number of people needed to complete the induction, meaning staff can be delegated to other areas of the operation. 

The automated crush may also provide a solution for labour shortages, as it’s designed to save one to two labour units and demand lower skill requirements.

“It’s hard to find people. You eventually find someone; you get them trained up and they leave six months down the track – meaning you go over the entire hiring and training process frequently.”

Sam said the technology may allow for less skilled labour to be onboarded. 

“You would be able to set up all the automation for the worker. For example, say they need to induct 100 head of cattle today, they wouldn’t need to worry about catching the animals.”

Cattle welfare a priority  

Dr Daniel Brookes from the University of Melbourne was involved in the project to check off the animal welfare side of the pilot. 

“I had 12 visits across about 18 months. I observed the animals going through the automatic crush and created a score sheet to assess each animal’s welfare considerations as they went through the ,” he said.

Dr Brookes said that the less interaction between animals and people, the better it is for the animal.

“The more people around the crush doing different things to the animal, the more stress for the animal.”

Testing the reduced stress on the animals was one of the drivers of the trial, alongside improved efficiency. 

“We saw next to no use of cattle prods throughout the whole project and this is a real positive.” Dr Brookes said.

As this was a pilot trial, Dr Brookes spoke to the potential that was seen throughout the trial for the future of the product. 

“There are still small kinks to iron out, but the potential for the product will not only provide a positive impact for animal welfare but also labour efficiencies” Dr Brookes said.

Te Pari are looking to release limited units to commercial operations later in 2025.