The eyes have it!

I am excited to announce that Forrest Farm Vets has been selected as one of ten grant recipients in the recent round of the Western Australian Government’s Innovation Booster Grants.

The grant will be used to help fund a proof of concept (POC) for an Autonomous Cattle Eye Disease Detection System. This will use computer vision to analyse images of cattle eyes, categorising eyes as diseased or not.

Early detection and treatment of eye disease, such as squamous cell carcinoma and infectious bovine keratoconjunctivitis (pinkeye), is crucial in safeguarding animal welfare and improving treatment outcomes.

Automating the detection of disease in this way will enable early, subtle changes to the eye to be detected, potentially before they would usually be picked up by the herdsperson.

Cancerous lesion

Initially the project will focus on dairy farms, though a successful system could also be implemented in feedlots, abattoirs and in the live export industry.

The farm environment provides many challenges to image capture, such as changing light conditions, water, dust and the unpredictable nature of livestock, in addition to variable connectivity. It is these problems that have been the initial focus in the first stage of the project prior to moving on to building the computer vision model.

Leon in action

This stage has been completed in collaboration with Curtin University through their Industry Exchange programme. A local Busselton dairy farm has also come on board to help develop the POC, seeing the potential of the system. Thanks also to the cows that have generously allowed us to take some, sometimes unflattering, close ups.

Not only is the exchange programme a great opportunity for Forrest Farm Vets to access the skills of high performing students like Leon Anish Abraham, it also exposes computer science students to the growing range of opportunities there are for their skills in the agricultural sector.

The second stage of the POC, building the computer vision model, will start in July. This is where we can really start to answer some of the bigger questions regarding technical feasibility.

We are currently building a data set of images of cows' eyes that have been affected by disease. The bigger this set is the better so if you have any images of affected eyes you don't mind sharing then please send them to admin@forrestvets.com.au.

Many thanks to Hon Stephen Dawson MLC, Minister for Regional Development; Ports; Science and Innovation; Medical Research; Kimberley for his ongoing support for innovation within small businesses and the regions.

More updates to come as the project progresses…