Thermal · Pasture & open range

Domestic Herd Inventory

Count the herd without gathering it. A thermal pass at altitude reads every animal as a distinct signature — through brush, across draws, at first light or after dark — and returns a number you can actually rely on.

Get a Quote See a real capture

Sensor

Radiometric thermal + RGB

Stock

Cattle · Horses · Sheep · Goats

Conditions

Day or night · brush · timber

Disturbance

None — herd is not moved

01 — Real capture

Every head,
one frame

Captured at 344 feet on a single pass. Each bright signature is an animal — separated from cool ground, readable in cover, and countable without anyone walking the pasture or pushing stock into a pen.

Aerial thermal capture of pasture with cattle appearing as distinct bright signatures against cool ground. — Fig. 01 — Thermal pass, 344 ft AGL · every bright signature is a single animal

Altitude

344 ft

Passes flown

One

Stock moved

None

Hands needed

One pilot

02 — Deliverables

What you
get back

A count you can put in front of a lender, an insurer or a buyer — with the imagery behind it, dated and located.

Head count

A counted total for the ground flown, with the marked imagery it was derived from — auditable rather than estimated.

Distribution map

Where stock actually was at capture — which paddocks are carrying the load, which water they are holding to, which corners go unused.

Thermal & RGB imagery

Both sensors from the same pass, so a signature in cover can be checked against the visible frame.

Repeatable baseline

Fly the same ground each season and the counts compare directly — shortfalls show up as a number, not a hunch.

03 — Why thermal

A count on
horseback is
a guess

Animals move while you count them. Some are in timber, some are in a draw you cannot see into, and by the time you reach the far side of the section the ones behind you have shifted. The number you write down is an estimate, and everyone treating it as fact knows it.

Thermal removes the problem. The whole pasture is captured in minutes, and body heat gives you contrast that vegetation and low light cannot defeat.

Animals in cover: Still read as heat
Pre-dawn and after dark: Best contrast of the day
Stock stays put: No gather, no shrink
Missing head: Found in the same flight

Oblique thermal view across a hillside pasture at dusk; cattle read as bright signatures scattered over dark ground with timber and water behind. — Fig. 02 — Oblique pass, 175 ft · stock scattered across open ground and timber edge

04 — How it runs

Plan

Pasture boundaries, cover and access reviewed against the flight window. Cool ground gives the strongest contrast, so timing is chosen around it.

Fly

Gridded passes at an altitude high enough not to disturb stock, thermal and RGB recorded together across the whole block.

Count

Signatures marked and totalled, overlaps between passes reconciled so nothing is counted twice or missed at a boundary.

Deliver

Count, distribution map and marked imagery handed over — dated evidence, not a figure someone has to take on trust.

05 — Who books this

Ranchers,
lenders, buyers

Ranch & cattle operations

Seasonal counts, pasture rotation planning, and confirming stock is where it should be after weather or a fence failure.

Agricultural lenders & insurers

Independent verification of livestock held as collateral, with dated imagery supporting the figure.

Buyers & estate transfers

A neutral count at the point of sale or settlement, so both sides are working from the same number.

Ask us how we can help
with your next project

Tell us the acreage and roughly what you are running. We will come back with the flight window, the deliverable and the number — usually same day.

Get a Quote Call 888.901.5150