By Emmy Powell
Communications Specialist

A Texas agricultural startup placed in the top 10 semi-finalists of the 2024 Farm Bureau Ag Innovation Challenge.

Smooth Ag Solutions, founded by River McTasney, is an agricultural technology company that creates automated pasture management and livestock monitoring solutions. The company works to revolutionize how farmers and ranchers manage their pastures, improve productivity and enhance animal welfare.

The company’s autonomous cattle feeder helped the young entrepreneurs place in the top 10 of the national contest.

The V1 Ranch Rover, Smooth Ag’s flagship product, is an autonomous feeder with rangeland capabilities. It was designed to help with decreased labor availability and allow ranchers to be more efficient and data driven.

“Farmers and ranchers are challenged with managing grazing lands and monitoring their livestock,” River McTasney, Smooth Ag CEO, said. “Traditional manual methods are time-consuming, labor-intensive and often lack accuracy. That’s why we have developed the Ranch Rover, an innovative and advanced unmanned ground vehicle equipped with reliable technology and autonomous systems.”

The robot is powered by an internal combustion engine and equipped with a trip hopper that can hold up to one ton of feed. The Ranch Rover runs off real-time kinematic positioning, allowing the rancher to build geo-fence parameters and set feed times through the GPS.

Ranchers can program the robot to go on “missions” that are scheduled routes for the Ranch Rover to feed cattle on certain routes at certain times. The independent front suspension robot with four-wheel drive can even navigate rough terrain to feed cattle.

“We looked at other advancements on the market and personalized it for agriculture,” McTasney said. “Technology is lacking for ranchers, so we are trying to bridge the gap and make everyday tasks quicker and simpler. The rover doesn’t replace the human element but helps to minimize human error and maximize the rancher’s productivity.”

The Ranch Rover saves ranchers 15 to 20 hours a week, if not more, from time spent driving around the ranch and calling up cattle. This time saved allows ranchers to work on higher value tasks or spend quality time with their families.

The Ranch Rover can also collect data on cattle and rangelands to help make management decisions.

As one of the 10 semi-finalist teams in the Ag Innovation Challenge, Smooth Ag was awarded $10,000 in start-up funds.

The company will compete at the AFBF Convention in January 2024. Entrepreneurs that advance to the final round will receive an additional $5,000 for a total of $15,000.

Another $5,000 will be awarded to the People’s Choice Team, which is chosen by public vote.

“The future of American agriculture is bright due in part to start-up companies like those competing in the Ag Innovation Challenge,” AFBF President Zippy Duvall said. “Entrepreneurs’ innovative solutions to the challenges that we’re facing today help clear hurdles for the farmers and ranchers of tomorrow as they provide food, fiber and renewable fuel for families both here at home and around the globe.”

The competition provides an opportunity for Farm Bureau members to showcase ideas and business innovations in agriculture. AFBF is offering $165,000 in start-up funds throughout the course of the competition.

More information about the contest is available at fb.org/challenge.

Learn more about Smooth Ag at SmoothAg.com.