Water points
RFID readers at the troughs record which animals come to drink.
Drone cattle counting for feedlots
Every head. Every pen. Every flight.
No expensive RFID tags, no pen entry, no guesswork.
Live on a 60-pen feedlot in the North West
A full day's count by hand. Done in under an hour from the air.
5,000head
Counted in under an hour, from take-off to per-pen numbers and video.
>99%accurate
Within 1 head per pen on average.
0people in the pens
The same count by hand takes 4 people a full day, on foot among the cattle.
Inside one flight
From raw footage to a count you can check.
Real video from our pilot feedlot. Switch between what the drone films, what the AI sees, and what you get on your dashboard.
Final count118 head
The model outlines every animal, finds the fences on both sides of the pen, and tracks each animal by ID so none is counted twice.
The dashboard
Every animal, on your farm map.
Every pen shows its count against your books, green for a match and red where it's off. Turn on cattle positions and you see each animal exactly where it stood during the flight.
Real dashboard from our pilot feedlotDrag to compare
Drone mapping
Sharper than satellite. Flown today.
Satellite images are low resolution and can be months old. Each Heelr flight builds a fresh, high-resolution map of your pens, so you can see every animal, water point and bunk as they are right now.
Satellite image
Heelr drone map
Same six pens, drone vs satelliteDrag to compare
Inventory
Your books, checked against every pen.
Each flight gives you a per-pen inventory next to your expected headcount. A missing or extra animal shows up straight away, not at the next manual audit.
- Count after rain, before a sale, or every morning
- No staff pulled off the feed run
- No stress on the cattle from people in the pen
Bunk management
See where your cattle stand.
The same flight maps every animal. See the share of cattle at the bunk, in the middle and at the back of each pen, with every animal's position on a satellite view of your farm.
- Per-pen split across the bunk, middle and back thirds
- Every animal located on your farm's satellite map
Audit trail
Every count, kept for good.
Every flight's counts and every pen's video are stored. Look back at any date and you have an exact, visual audit record of what was in each pen.
- Historic counts for every flight
- Annotated video for every pen, every time
Flightscount / expected
| Flight | Count | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| Flight 10Oct 21, 2026 | 2,931 / 2,946 | -15 · -0.5% |
| Flight 9Oct 13, 2026 | 1,736 / 1,740 | -4 · -0.2% |
| Flight 8Oct 6, 2026 | 3,355 / 3,374 | -19 · -0.6% |
| Flight 7Sep 29, 2026 | 1,221 / 1,215 | +6 · +0.5% |
| Flight 6Sep 21, 2026 | 2,932 / 2,951 | -19 · -0.6% |
| Flight 5Sep 14, 2026 | 687 / 682 | +5 · +0.7% |
| Flight 4Sep 6, 2026 | 1,508 / 1,513 | -5 · -0.3% |
| Flight 3Aug 30, 2026 | 1,512 / 1,513 | -1 · -0.1% |
| Flight 2Aug 22, 2026 | 1,556 / 1,563 | -7 · -0.4% |
| Flight 1Aug 14, 2026 | 1,694 / 1,683 | +11 · +0.7% |
How it works
One tap. The drone does the rest.
01
Tap the flight plan
Your pens are mapped once. Starting a count after that is one tap. No pilot skills needed.
02
It flies itself
The drone takes off, flies a straight pass down every pen with the camera pointed straight down, and lands where it started.
03
AI counts every animal
The footage uploads and our model counts each animal and assigns it to the pen it stands in.
04
Review with proof
Per-pen inventory against expected counts, cattle positions on your satellite map, and video of each pen.
Heelr vs a manual count
The count your team can't do every day.
| Measure | Heelr | Manual count |
|---|---|---|
| 5,000 head | Under 1 hour | A full day |
| People needed | One person taps start. No pilot skills needed | 4 people |
| Entering pens | Never | Every pen |
| Accuracy | >99% accurate, within 1 head per pen on average | Varies with crew and conditions |
| Evidence | Video of every pen, kept for every flight | A tally sheet |
| Bunk insight | Share of cattle at the bunk, middle and back | A walk-past impression |
What counting costs you
Put your own numbers in.
See how much time your team spends counting by hand, and what a miscount is worth at your prices.
Time spent counting by hand48person-days a year
Labour cost of countingR —a year · add your daily cost
One missing animalR —add your value per head
A 1% miscount50 headadd your value per head
Uses only the numbers you enter. Nothing is sent or saved.
In development
From the air to the ground.
Counting never needs a tag. For feedlots that already tag their cattle, we’re building RFID readers at water points, feed bunks and loading docks, in the same dashboard.
Feed bunks
RFID at the bunk adds individual feeding activity to the pen-level view from the air.
Loading docks
Every animal read in and out at loading, so arrivals and dispatches match the count.
Questions farmers ask
Straight answers.
Does the drone spook the cattle?
No. Settled cattle ignore it. New intake may notice it and move around at first, but they get used to it quickly. It flies one straight pass down each pen, 15 to 45 metres up depending on the pen's width, and nobody has to walk in among the cattle.
What weather can it fly in?
Heelr flies a DJI Air 3S, which is rated for winds up to 12 m/s (about 43 km/h) and temperatures from −10 °C to 40 °C, with up to 45 minutes of flight per battery. If the wind gets too strong, the drone returns home and lands by itself. It can't fly in rain, so you fly once it clears.
Does it count cattle that are lying down or bunched at the bunk?
Yes. Our AI model is trained on cattle of every colour, standing or lying down, and bunched together at the bunk.
How does the footage get to Heelr?
After the drone lands, the footage uploads over your farm Wi-Fi and our AI counts every pen. If your internet is slow, you can buy a local hardware setup that only needs about 8 Mbps. Get in touch and we’ll tell you more.
How do my own numbers get into the dashboard?
Either way works: type the expected headcount for each pen into the dashboard, or import it from a spreadsheet. Every flight is checked against it.
What if a count looks wrong?
Every pen has its own video from the flight. Open it, watch the pass and check the animals yourself. Pens that need a second look are flagged with “Check count”.
Who owns and looks after the drone?
Your farm owns it. You buy a DJI Air 3S Fly More Combo from any certified DJI retailer or Takealot, and DJI handles any hardware warranty and repairs.
Who owns my data?
Your counts, videos and maps belong to your feedlot, and they’re kept on secure cloud storage.
What does it cost?
Pricing depends on the size of your feedlot. Get in touch and we’ll send you a quote.
Get in touch
Count your feedlot from the air.
Heelr is built by farmers, for farmers. Feedlot managers: we'll fly a demo count on your pens.
- We map your pens. We come out and set up a flight plan for your feedlot.
- We fly a count with you watching. One tap, and the drone covers every pen.
- You check our numbers. Compare the count per pen against your own book.