Agricultural tech company Enriched Ag has launched its rancher-tested line of products to help agricultural customers optimize forage management while reducing costs, increasing profits, managing risk and improving the land. Enriched Ag’s products, which currently include Enriched Ag Insights, Enriched Ag Vision and Enriched Ag RealTime, encompass an engine of machine learning and artificial intelligence to positively impact the industry.

“Enriched Ag is committed to developing the tools our customers find valuable,” said Billy Cook, Enriched Ag’s vice president of producer relations. “We value customer service and serving as expertise in ranchers’ pockets to help them easily make decisions that benefit their operational bottom line, conservation efforts and the environment.”

The Enriched Ag story began with the company’s release of a free version of grazing, carbon and supply chain insights in the fall of 2022. An enhanced version of Enriched Ag Insights brings ranchers a low-touch, high-value offering with more detailed information, such as current and forecasted forage production and grazing data, pasture-level optimal recovery, stocking recommendations, rainfall and water analytics, bare ground detection and tracking, and sequestered carbon estimates.

More than 30 U.S. ranchers have tested and continue to provide valuable feedback to improve the Insights. Among those ranchers is Bob McCan, general manager for McFaddin Enterprises in Victoria, Texas. He manages 13 cow-calf herds on three ranches with individual grazing systems.

McCan said Enriched Ag Insights is an innovative, user-friendly tool for managing forage volumes on specific pastures, fine-tuning grazing systems for better livestock nutrition, and improving range conditions for cattle and wildlife.

“Knowing real-time forage volumes is incredibly valuable to managers like me, who are challenged with weather extremes and timing issues associated with cow-calf operations,” McCan said.

Cook said Enriched Ag Insights can provide better forage management outcomes and huge potential cost savings for ranches of all sizes. Not only can ranchers use the Insights to evaluate individual pastures, but they can better understand where and when to move their herds. Data-driven rotation decisions are simplified by the tool’s recommended stocking rates, recovery days, and grazing days specific to herd count and animal unit size — ultimately improving ranchers’ bottom line by decreasing their need to feed supplemental hay.

“Enriched Ag Insights also provides early signals when forage production is abnormal, which gives ranchers a chance to make timely management decisions that include buying or selling cattle, or purchasing feed,” he said.

Cook added the Insights provide ranchers the ability to increase pasture yields with judicious fertilizer and herbicide applications, which offers another way to cut input costs. The long-term effects mean more productive forage stands and better environmental stewardship.

In addition to working with the ranching community, Enriched Ag has partnered with select universities to bring the Insights into collegiate classrooms as part of the Enriched-U academic program. A prominent goal of the program is to help students learn more about ranch-level decision making and to gain hands-on experience working in livestock production and sustainable rangeland ecology. More than 250 students will use Enriched Ag Insights by the Spring 2024 semester.

Enriched Ag has created two additional products in its platform: Enriched Ag Vision and Enriched Ag RealTime. These products offer a blend of hardware and software. Enriched Ag Vision captures imagery to provide a visual historical record of land, animal, and infrastructure changes and documents the impact of a rancher’s management practices. Enriched Ag RealTime has become a useful ranching solution that includes connectivity with Enriched Ag Insights and Enriched Ag Vision.

With Enriched Ag’s advanced monitoring capabilities — offered on the ground using cameras and from the sky using satellite imagery — ranchers have an opportunity to capture unparalleled data and record-keeping capabilities.