Eric Perner runs a holistically managed cattle ranch in Tulsa, Oklahoma USA. The ranch is a Hub for the Savory Institute, a global community of ranch owners working together to advance regenerative agriculture. Eric has used fieldmargin to lay out each grazing paddock and help develop his grazing plan optimise usage of available biomass. He has also used the app for training other ranch owners.
Eric teaches land management skills with the aim of helping farmers to reduce their farm inputs and address grazing problems more effectively. Eric’s grazing planning incorporates drone imagery from Drone Deploy showing different states and transitions on the ranch in greater detail.
“Using the Drone Deploy’s integration I am able to easily view drone imagery during the growing season. Using this imagery I assess available biomass to determine which paddock I will graze and the timing of that grazing. I also use the drones to check on herd location to make sure all are accounted for.”
Recently Eric has started to use satellite imagery from Field Health to assess growth of his pastures.
“I am using Field Health plan to analyze drone maps and Satellite imagery. I find the compare map feature really useful. I would like to test if the Satellite NDVI images will guide me to the same decision as the higher resolution drone maps.”
Eric is monitoring how holistic management can improve the landscape and wildlife diversity. As part of this work he uses data monitoring sites to record Monarch butterfly sightings on his land as a way of assessing habitat regeneration. He has seen significant improvements in Butterfly Milkweed and Golden Rod forbs species which are critical plants for the survival of the Monarch Butterfly.
“I love the software so far it is really simple to use. I can’t wait to see how it develops and test new features.”