Revolutionizing Ranch Management: The Latest Envu Innovations in RangeView™

Welcome to the frontier of ranch management! Coming from a ranching background, I have experienced the pain points our customers are facing now, from increased costs and low commodity prices to difficulty finding a suitable labor force. These issues push ranchers to become more efficient to maximize productivity wherever they can. While surveying the digital landscape, we learned that the support tools for ranchers and producers were not on par with the innovations seen in other industries, even in the companion industry of farming, where the investment of resources was and is significantly higher than in range and pasture. This lack of available tools really set the stage for the introduction of RangeView^TM.

Can you describe the journey from concept to the final product launch of RangeView and some of the key milestones along the way?

The initial concept for RangeView was born from a coffee chat among ranchers who were discussing the problems that invasive annual grasses were causing to their operations, along with the introduction of indaziflam (now Rejuvra^® herbicide) as a viable solution at scale to the massive problem. We were thrilled to have a solution that could dramatically change the range and pasture landscape, but we felt a tool was needed to help ranchers identify their infestations and plan their rangeland restoration projects. This is where the ideas of using satellite imagery, other remote sensing data and our knowledge of the ecosystem were linked and became the start of the RangeView platform.

From there, it was an easy jump to identify invasive brush in Texas, Oklahoma and New Mexico and expand the platform to support Invora^® herbicide as well. During the journey, we felt that ranchers and rangeland managers were underserved in the digital tools space and could benefit from a set of streamlined but powerful tools to help them increase productivity and efficiency. We determined that RangeView could expand from a tool for rangeland restoration to a platform that serves many customer pain points and jobs. We have been developing toward that vision ever since.

RangeView empowers ranchers and land managers like never before to optimize their rangeland and herd management practices. At the core of this innovation lies our Envu commitment to advancing healthy environments for everyone everywhere. Here are a few of the key benefits of the platform:

• Elevating Herd Management With Rotational Grazing Planning. The new rotational grazing planning feature in RangeView is crucial to protecting shared spaces between society and nature. Rotational grazing is akin to giving a pasture a breath of fresh air. Rotating livestock across different grazing areas allows appropriate time for the vegetation to recover from grazing pressure. This rotational cycle prevents overgrazing in specific areas, mitigating soil erosion and promoting the regrowth of grasses and forbs. The result? Healthier pastures that are more resilient to environmental stressors.
  RangeView customizes grazing schedules for each herd, ensuring optimal forage utilization while promoting pasture regeneration. Users can optimize rotational grazing, improving the nutritional intake of the livestock and maximizing forage utilization. As a result, the land can support larger herd sizes, increasing overall productivity without compromising pasture health.

• Optimizing Pasture Forage Productivity: Maximizing Land Utilization. RangeView empowers ranchers and land managers to accurately assess pasture productivity and implement targeted management strategies, maximizing forage yield while promoting sustainable land stewardship. Rotational grazing benefits livestock and wildlife by mimicking natural grazing patterns and promoting biodiversity by creating a mosaic of habitats. This diverse landscape supports a wide array of plant and animal species, enriching the ecological resilience of pasture ecosystems. From pollinators to ground-dwelling insects, rotational grazing fosters a balanced and vibrant ecosystem.
  Healthy soils are the foundation of sustainable agriculture, and rotational grazing plays a vital role in soil health. As livestock graze and trample vegetation, they contribute to soil aeration and nutrient distribution. Additionally, the rest periods between grazing cycles allow grass roots to penetrate deeper into the soil, improving water infiltration and soil structure.

• Combating Invasive Brush and Weeds: Restoring Pastures to Productive Forage. In areas where herds are less likely to forage, invasive brush and weed species may thrive. Leveraging satellite imagery and machine learning analysis, RangeView offers customized treatment planning and herbicide application history, ensuring effective management of invasive species.

• Seamless Herd Data Management: Tracking Weight Progression and Shipping Dates. RangeView effortlessly tracks weight progression and shipping dates for cattle herds. By streamlining this process, the platform empowers ranchers to make informed decisions — from herd health management to logistical planning — and helps ensure smooth operations year-round.

How does the team ensure that the tool stays ahead of the curve in terms of innovation and meeting the evolving needs of ranchers?

We are constantly looking across industries and the digital landscape for opportunities to expand and improve our technology. Our attention is focused on the customers’ needs and pain points, which lets us know where we can offer the most value. We also work with cutting-edge partners to keep us at the forefront of innovation.

Were there any challenges or obstacles encountered during the development of RangeView?

As with any product, the road has not always been smooth. We have learned a lot in the process, from geospatial modeling to website design, but these learnings have helped mold the product into what it is today. Early modeling efforts focused on a specific time of year and provided inconsistent results, so we expanded our efforts to include more information and better models to get the consistency our customers truly needed. We also faced the known obstacle of bringing a new solution to a legacy industry, and we had to push through the resistance to show ranchers and land managers that these new solutions have progressed enough to provide them great value on their operations. We view each obstacle as a learning opportunity and never as a roadblock to stop our development.

What innovative technologies or methodologies were employed in the development of RangeView, and how do they differentiate the product from existing solutions in the market?

When it comes to innovative methodologies on the rangeland analysis side, our partnership with Satelytics and the level of detail we now can provide on our geospatial analytics have been the biggest differentiator for us. We moved to a daily imagery set over a whole growing season, with double the bands of reflectance data, to really push the accuracy and the insights of our analysis over the top. We work hand in hand with Satelytics to constantly add training data and refine our models to assure that they continue to provide the accuracy our customers need. This allows us to generate unprecedented pasture-level insights. Additionally, we combine this industry-leading analysis with a very streamlined approach to livestock management that is powerful, yet simple, to create a package that sets us apart from other solutions.

How did Envu collaborate with ranchers and industry experts throughout the development of RangeView, and how did their feedback shape the product's features and functionalities?

Our customers and industry experts have been essential to the development of RangeView. We cannot thank these folks enough for the many hours spent showing us around their lands and reviewing results as well as for the access they’ve granted and the openness they’ve shown to help us develop a solution that betters the industry as a whole. We could not have done this without their generous support and feedback.

Can you share any examples of how user feedback or real-world testing influenced the design or functionality of the tool?

Every design choice and change we make is with our customers in mind. This year, we changed the entire user experience to respond to user feedback that previous processes felt disjointed and had to be relearned each time they entered the platform. Our new features, from treatment design and download to leafy spurge analysis and operational calculators, came in part from user feedback and real-world testing.

Looking ahead, what do you envision for the future of RangeView and its potential impact on the ranching industry?

We plan to continue to grow the platform to include remote biomass sensing, reservoir level monitoring, industry integrations and more so we can provide our customers with all the tools they need to continue stewarding their land while being more productive. We want RangeView to help make ranching more efficient and profitable so our customers can continue the lifestyle they love, despite today’s challenging conditions.

Now that RangeView launched with these new features, how does it feel to see the product come to life after all the hard work and innovation that went into its development?

It is incredibly exciting and fulfilling to finally see the product launch and get into the hands of our users. I cannot wait to see more people leveraging the platform and hear how it is helping them with their operations! But as I said previously, we will never be done improving at Envu. We will keep innovating to ensure we always offer the best digital rangeland support tool on the market. We strive to revolutionize the way ranchers and land managers globally optimize rangelands and usher in a new era of harmonious coexistence between agriculture and the natural world.