From data to decisions: The potential of real-time precision technologies to enhance adaptive grazing management for livestock ranchers

Authors: Derner, Justin; IRISARRI, GONZALO - University Of Wyoming; RAYNOR, EDWARD - Colorado State University; RITTEN, JOHN - Colorado State University; Lents, Clay; GUAN, KAIYU - University Of Illinois; PENG, BIN - University Of Illinois; YE, LEXUAN - University Of Illinois; THOMA, GREG - Colorado State University; Porensky, Lauren; Augustine, David

Submitted to: African Journal of Range & Forage Science
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 11/3/2025
Publication Date: 2/26/2026
Citation: Derner, J.D., Irisarri, G.J., Raynor, E.J., Ritten, J.P., Lents, C.A., Guan, K., Peng, B., Ye, L., Thoma, G., Porensky, L.M., Augustine, D.J. 2026. From data to decisions: The potential of real-time precision technologies to enhance adaptive grazing management for livestock ranchers. African Journal of Range & Forage Science. 43(1):46-54. https://doi.org/10.2989/10220119.2025.2585814.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.2989/10220119.2025.2585814

Interpretive Summary: Precision livestock technologies have been limited in their application to real-world decision-making by producers. Here, integrating available contemporary technologies could provide producers the ability to move from data to decisions regarding on-animal sensors for grazing behavior metrics and animal health, and grazing land conditions via remote sensing. Producers could use these integrated precision livestock management technologies to enhance adaptive grazing management for increasing consumption of high-quality forage, controlling invasive species, creating fire breaks, improving grazing use patterns for wildlife species habitats, improving vegetation structure to enhance wildlife-livestock coexistence, ensuring proper use and health of riparian areas, and providing improved physiological status of individual animals. These efforts should reduce labor inputs and provide producers a cost savings.

Technical Abstract: Opportunities exist for contemporary precision livestock technologies to enhance adaptive grazing management for spatiotemporal distribution of grazing animals across landscapes by integrating real-time on-animal sensors with high-resolution remote sensing. To date, disparate research projects and commercial ranch operations have only used one or a simple combination of the available precision livestock technologies. Further, incorporating remote sensing has been constrained by processing pipelines and computer processing power. Integration across the available contemporary technologies could provide producers with a synergistic potential for assessing, in near-real time, grazing behavior metrics and animal health from on-animal sensors, and grazing land conditions via remote sensing to enhance adaptive grazing management. Therefore, producers could target locations of grazing animals through control of movements to effectively match grazing animal activity to increase consumption of high-quality forage, control invasive species, create fire breaks, facilitate grazing use patterns for wildlife species habitats, improve vegetation structure to enhance wildlife-livestock coexistence, ensure proper use and health of riparian areas, and provide improved physiological status of individual animals. Co-production research efforts with producers can assist in moving from data to decisions through real-time precision livestock technologies enhancing adaptive grazing management resulting in reduced labor inputs and cost savings for producers.