Meet Jade Luxton: a Groundbreaker with a sharp idea to improve livestock vaccination

Presented as a Q&A, this conversation follows Jade Luxton’s journey from observing on-farm challenges to designing practical tools that improve animal welfare, productivity and on-farm efficiency.

What sparked your interest in agricultural innovation?

I spend a lot of time on my grandparents’ dairy farms when I was younger and I knew that I wanted to work in agriculture. But it was an agribusiness program at high school that got me hooked on creating products to solve real-world challenges.

During that agribusiness course a deer farmer shared the frustrations of constantly having to change needles when giving the animals anaesthetic during velveting. That’s where the idea for the Sterineedle, a tool for sterilising livestock vaccination needles came from.

I’m also studying a Bachelor of Industrial Design at university and I just love being able to use my skills to create tools to help other people.

What are some of the ‘pain points’ your innovation, Sterineedle helps to overcome?

Picture a holster that holds a livestock vaccination gun that has a sterilising gel solution at the base. This gel cleans the needle of any contaminants so there’s no disease or bacterial spread between animals.

The initial target market is the New Zealand deer industry and with around a million animals it’s the largest farmed deer population in the world. Deer velvet, which comes from the antlers of the stags, is used in health supplements and oriental medicine. The animals are given a local anaesthetic before the antlers are removed. Because it’s considered a food grade material, the needles need to be cleaned or changed between each animal. Changing that needle is very time consuming, and we’ve found that using Sterineedle saves 30 seconds per animal – so over a herd of 300 deer that’s 2.5 hours.

Farmers sometimes use something like a can with methylated spirits to sterilise needles but these can be easily tipped over. Sterineedle is a much more useful and practical solution.  A lot of our farmers see value in the holster itself, giving them an extra hand to hold the gun between vaccinations.

I also found throughout my research that the product could also deliver benefits for sheep and beef as well, reducing the risks of abscesses caused by contaminated needles that can potentially lead to downgraded carcases at the meatworks.

Not only do I like helping people but I love animals so I would love to see the product being used by farmers across the world to ensure that animals are getting premium care.

What’s been the biggest challenge you’ve overcome in developing the product and the business?

I founded the business in 2022 when I was 17 and in my last year of high school. I didn’t have any connections in the industry, or really know what I was doing, to be honest.

At university I got involved with a club that supports student founders and that opened by eyes to the entrepreneur ecosystem. I realised that there are hundreds of people all over the world willing to support, help and teach you.  My network has grown significantly, and I’ve been able to take part in programs and start-up accelerator programs.

I feel as if I’ve been climbing a ladder into that entrepreneur space and my current challenge is getting myself ready to launch.

What attracted you to the evoke^AG. Groundbreaker program?

Most of the entrepreneur and business development things I’ve done so far have been generic and I was drawn to the Groundbreaker program because evoke^AG. is an agriculture and food focused event. The feedback and support that you can get from a more industry focused program is so much more valuable because everybody is in the same space.

The support that we’ve been given so far to help us tell our story has been invaluable and I’m looking forward to speaking at evoke^AG. in Melbourne and hopefully inspiring others to consider entrepreneurship too.