{"id":97388,"title":"GrazeMate: Drones that Herd Cattle","tagline":"We build autonomous “robot cowboys” that help ranchers move and monitor cattle.","body":"**TL;DR** - Ranchers can spend hundreds of thousands per year moving cattle between fields. GrazeMate builds autonomous drone software to guide cattle - doing the work of helicopters and motorbikes with AI that understands animal behaviour.\n\n\u003chttps://youtu.be/sIrM29ziVNU\u003e\n\n**❌ The problem**\n\nI'm Sam. I grew up on my family's cattle station in Australia, where we move cattle on motorbikes, helicopters, and horseback. It took hours each day and \u0026gt;$100k/year.\n\nIn the US, ranches spend anywhere from $10k–$1M per year and hours each day moving cattle just to keep them on fresh grass. It's expensive, risky, and hard to staff.\n\n**✅ The solution**\n\nGrazeMate's autonomous drones herd your cattle for you. What could take teams a full day now takes three clicks from a phone.\n\nOur system:\n\n* Finds your herd and guides them calmly to the next pasture\n* Uses AI that reads animal behaviour and applies pressure like an experienced stockman\n* Learns how your cattle respond and improves with every move\n\nWhy ranchers are switching:\n\n* More frequent moves → Better grazing, pasture use, and stocking rates\n* More affordable than traditional methods\n* Hours of herding → seconds on a phone\n* Real-time weight estimates, pasture data, and infrastructure insights\n\n![uploaded image](/media/?type=post\u0026id=97388\u0026key=user_uploads/2933487/a7e07817-bfde-4784-90ab-e4f9d16579b8)\n\n**🤠 Why us**\n\nMy family runs 6,000 head. I dropped out of robotics at University of Sydney after seeing both the challenges with modern ranching, and the capacity robotics has to help. Our team combines PhDs and engineers who grew up on ranches.\n\n**🙏 Our ask**\n\nWe're onboarding early partners. We’d be extremely grateful for introductions to:\n\n* Large grazing operations (US and beyond)\n* Ranch managers exploring rotational grazing\n* Industry leaders, cattle agents, feedlots, processors\n\nAnd if that’s you, schedule a demo on grazemate.com, or contact me at [sam@grazemate.com](mailto:sam@grazemate.com). I’d love to chat!","slug":"PKm-grazemate-drones-that-herd-cattle","created_at":"2026-02-02T15:42:29.970Z","updated_at":"2026-05-25T03:58:56.185Z","total_vote_count":29,"url":"https://www.ycombinator.com/launches/PKm-grazemate-drones-that-herd-cattle","share_image_url":"https://www.ycombinator.com/media/?type=post\u0026id=97388\u0026key=user_uploads/2933487/a7e07817-bfde-4784-90ab-e4f9d16579b8","company":{"id":31285,"name":"GrazeMate","slug":"grazemate","url":"https://grazemate.com","logo":"https://bookface-images.s3.amazonaws.com/small_logos/d2a4475db614107fb0effa347e625a6885ca8045.png","batch":"Winter 2026","industry":"Industrials","tags":["Reinforcement Learning","Drones","Computer Vision","Agriculture"],"search_path":"https://bookface.ycombinator.com/company/31285"}}