Ranchers Build Cattle Feeding Robot
Tim Hammerich
News Reporter
Two cattle producers from Texas have built a robot to help with one of those mundane tasks on the ranch: feeding. River McTasney and Hunter Allemand are the men behind the V1 Ranch Rover. McTasney says it can save ranchers both money and time.
McTasney… “I know our operation, we save about 15 hours a week with it. There's some that I've come across that'll save about 22 hours a week. So I would say it's safe to say within the target market of this machine, we're looking at 10 to 25 hours a week. Maybe even up to 30 and 40 for those really, for really big places.”
The machine can hold up to a ton of feed and roam out to grazing spots, using GPS, and it can be programmed to take specific routes at certain times, and the animals don't seem to mind it.
McTasney… “I haven't seen any kind of fear even initially, but once they see feed come out of it, it's a no-brainer. It's the gravy train. They come right to it. They know what it's here to do. They may even come to it a little bit more cuz there's not a human in it and it, there's no kind of predatorial factor to it.”
The Rover starts at $55,000, and they are offering a limited lifetime warranty for a select number of early adopters.
