Published in Queensland Country Life
Thursday, November 27, 2025

Knudsen Cattle sold on the benefits of Farmbot

THE move to Farmbot remote water monitoring has saved the Knudsen family of Mundubbera more than 50 per cent on diesel bills used for water runs since 2023.

“Having the Farmbot system in place has freed up time for staff, which has allowed them to move on to other jobs,” Kara Knudsen said.

“The knock-on effect of reduced general wear and tear on vehicles has been significant.”

Knudsen Cattle had been using remote water telemetry equipment for close to a decade before getting on board with Farmbot.

“The system we had in place was obsolete, and we were looking to upgrade,” Mrs Knudsen said.

“We consistently look at adding more technology to the business.

“We’ll do our research, trial it, and if it works, we’ll then roll it out across the entire operation, as was the case with Farmbot.

‘We were already aware of the benefits remote water monitoring offered. We trialled several different options, including Farmbot devices.

“We considered reliability, how much data was acquired, and how often, robustness of the unit to withstand the elements, customer service, data ownership, ease of installation, ease of use on the dashboard, and if the providers were happy to agnostically integrate with other solutions and software in the future.

“Farmbot came out the winner on all these points. We purchased several more for validation and then rolled Farmbots out across all locations shortly after.”

Mrs Knudsen said that due to the importance of water to a livestock business, having the Farmbot ecosystem in place opened up more opportunities for staff and family to have more flexibility in the job.

“Last week we had three staff away at a nutrition course, and as a team we’re planning extensive involvement in community activities like the Eidsvold Cattle Drive.

“We can confidently be away and have limited or less experienced staff on call because managers and key staff will still have some oversight from afar, at the press of a button, with Farmbot.”

Trading as Knudsen Cattle, it was in 2009 that Darcy and Kara Knudsen took the reins at Rosehall, 80 kilometres west of Mundubbera.

Knudsen Cattle had previously acquired Elton Down at Hughenden in 2004, and later purchased several properties neighbouring it.

Rosehall comprises 7500 hectares of land, though the entire Knudsen Cattle aggregation is close to 60,000ha.

The soils on the southern aggregation are highly variable, with loam river flats on the Auburn River leading into ironbark ridges and areas of highly productive brigalow.

Some areas are sown to improved pasture with buffel and legumes, but the majority are native pastures. The northern country is black soil downs country with Mitchell and Flinders grasses.

With assistance from their sons, Tom and Jack, and their staff, the Knudsens primarily produce a Santa Gertrudis article (with some Shorthorn influence) on this country.

They have a heavy trading program in place from which most of their cattle enter the feedlot at 380 kilograms.

In an average year, the Mundubbera aggregation receives close to 650 millimetres of rain, while that figure is closer to 450mm for the Hughenden aggregation.