FARGO — From its headquarters at 700 Main Avenue in downtown Fargo, the tech startup 701x Autonomous Rancher is developing advanced solutions to streamline and improve ranching operations. The company’s suite of products includes herd management software and GPS tags designed to offer comprehensive data tracking.
Launched in 2020, 701x has created GPS tags that enable location tracking, health monitoring, and estrus indicators, and tracks bull mounting activity. With the acquisition of Digital Beef in late 2024, the company also offers a registry app for seedstock producers.
Sam Fisher, vice president of sales and marketing at 701x, sees parallels between his company’s approach and that of Apple, stating, “Think about what Apple has done with the cell phone, Apple watch, air tags and ear buds. They provided all of that under one roof for one seamless experience. That is really our vision now is to have tools for producers to more efficiently manage their operation.”
Sara Stevenson, a rancher from Down T Angus Ranch near White Sulphur Springs, Montana, is already experiencing the benefits. She appreciates that 701x’s products eliminate the need to use disparate programs and products for different functions. “It (701x) has saved me hours of data entry and bookkeeping and changed my life for the better,” Stevenson said.
Kevin Biffert, the founder of 701x, grew up on a North Dakota ranch. After pursuing engineering degrees and working in manufacturing, he started Fargo Automation in 1996, which he later sold. Biffert returned to his family’s ranch and saw the potential for technological advancement in the ranching industry.
Fisher explained that Biffert initially focused his efforts on the cow/calf segment of the market. “As the name insinuates, the goal of those operations is to get cows bred and producing a calf every year,” Fisher said. He added that the ability to generate and sell a calf is fundamental to a rancher’s income.
701x’s software engineers began by developing a herd management application that allowed ranchers to collect and record data in the field.
“This has eliminated hours, and I mean hours, of bookkeeping for me just by being able to enter this chute-side in my phone,” Stevenson said. She described the previous process of recording information in notebooks and manually entering it into programs.
The company also designed and manufactures smart ear tags. The xTpro tag, when applied to a bull, monitors mounting activity and overall health, alerting ranchers to potential issues often days before symptoms appear. The device also enables ranchers to monitor the bull’s location.
Stevenson’s father, who manages multiple herds in the Montana mountains, sees substantial value in the tag’s ability to track a bull’s viability.
“They’ve put an accelerometer in these tags and we can actually track how many steps and how many mounts per bull and correlate that back to how many calves they actually produce. It’s a multi-year study, but the data coming back is proving to be quiet accurate…Now we can get a pretty accurate measure of our own herd and how our own bulls are doing, which will lend to the predictability of their progeny,” she said.
When the xTpro is attached to a cow, it sends notifications when the animal is in heat, offering real-time information to breeding operations.
“Now instead of watching your whole herd around the clock looking for which females are showing signs of estrus or heat, that tag will send a push notification to your phone: ‘Animal 127 will be in heat in the next 24 hours or so.’ So, out of your herd of 500, you might have a smaller list of just 20 animals you need to watch now and breed in the next 24 hours,” Fisher said.
The company also offers a calf tag, the xTlite, which tracks animal activity, sends health updates, provides a digital headcount, and offers GPS location.
“The mama’s tag will be looking for her calf. If it sees that Bluetooth signal, it knows the calf is nearby and assigns that relative GPS location. It’s monitoring its footsteps. If there’s a deviation, we know that calf is getting sick and a message will be sent (to the rancher) through the mom,” Fisher said.
All of 701x’s products are designed, developed, and manufactured at its Fargo headquarters.
“All engineers are in-house here. … It’s allowed us to be very nimble,” Fisher said. “It started off with the GPS tag and the vision now is we want the whole ecosystem under one roof for producers.”
Stevenson noted the advantage of having all her ranching technology from a single provider. She appreciates being able to go to 701x for all of her needs, instead of relying on multiple products.
Currently, 701x operates in the contiguous United States, but a satellite version of the xTpro will be released this spring, broadening the company’s reach. The new tag should work in every country, though certain certifications or authorizations may be required, according to Fisher.
For additional information about 701x and its products, visit www.701x.com/software.
