BLUESTEM

Know how much grass you have — before you open the gate.

I’m Matt Dickson. I help my family run cattle on 70 acres in Cooke County, near Gainesville. BlueStem reads our pastures from satellite and tells me when to move the herd. This year I’m setting it up for a handful of neighboring ranches — $299 per year, including winter grazing and hay months.

The self-serve mapping app is separate from this site. That’s the destination for drawing paddocks yourself — app.bluestem.io once it is hosted, or locally with npm run serve:app.

Founding Rancher Program · $299 per year (one payment) · North Texas and southern Oklahoma

Live satellite grass reading of Matt's paddocks: Big and Frankie's reading ready to graze
Today, from satellite Big & Frankie’s — ready CCE — still resting

This is my place, from space.

Updated every few days. No data entry, no walking every paddock.

Satellite photo with the four grazing paddocks (CCW, CCE, Big, Frankie's) outlined and labeled, surrounded by woods and home place, in Cooke County near Gainesville, Texas
My four grazing paddocks, outlined. Everything around them is woods and home place — the satellite tells them apart.
NDVI grass map of the same four outlined paddocks — deep-green paddocks are ready to graze, the pale one (CCE) is recovering
The same four paddocks as a grass map. The deep-green ones were ready to graze — the pale one (CCE) was still recovering from its spring grazing.

How it works

  1. You draw your paddocks in the app — once. Search the map, outline each grazing unit, and name it. We can still sit at the kitchen table if you want help.
  2. Satellite and weather watch your grass every day. Rainfall, heat, growth — matched against what the satellite actually sees on your place.
  3. You get a straight answer. Which paddock, when to move, and how sure we are.
BlueStem dashboard showing the current paddock and the recommended next move with supplement and hay-day projections
The actual dashboard I use for my own herd — where the cattle are now, and the next move it recommends, with the hay and supplement days each path would cost.

What it won’t do

It won’t pretend to be certain. Operational forage numbers are point estimates today — the self-serve app does not print a biomass number at signup, and we do not advertise confidence bands the code does not compute. When the satellite hasn’t had a clear look, it should say so instead of guessing.

It won’t replace your eyes. It’s a second opinion that watches every acre every day — you still know your land better than any computer.

On our place, knowing when to move has meant feeding less hay. Founding ranchers will help us put honest numbers on that — we won’t print a savings claim we haven’t measured.

What hay costs — and what BlueStem costs

BlueStem is $299 per year — one payment covering 12 months, including winter grazing and the hay/cube months. Not a quarterly bill. Put in your own numbers and see what hay runs next to that. We don’t guess your savings — you decide whether better timing can beat the line at the bottom.

Defaults to about one round bale per cow per month on full feed — the common rule of thumb. Nudge it to match your cows and bale size, and put in your own bale price, so every number here is yours.

You feed about 200 round bales a year.

That’s about $15,000 a year— roughly $3,750 a month while you’re feeding.

BlueStem is $299 per year (one payment) — about 4 bales.

It pays for itself if better timing saves you just about 4 bales a season — around 2% of your hay.

These are your numbers and the bale price you entered — not a savings promise. Exactly how much better grazing trims your hay is what we’re measuring with founding ranchers.

The Founding Rancher Program

$299 per year, paid once. A handful of ranches. That’s the whole pitch.

What you get

  • I set BlueStem up for your place personally — paddocks drawn, herd entered, working the same week.
  • Satellite grass readings and move guidance all year, including leaner winter months when hay and cubes show up.
  • A straight answer on whether this thing earns a spot on your ranch.

What I ask

  • Tell me where it’s wrong. Your ground truth is what makes the tool right for this country.
  • A few minutes now and then to compare what it said with what you see.

Currently onboarding ranches in Grayson, Cooke, Collin, Fannin, Denton & Wise counties (TX) and Love, Marshall, Carter, Johnston, Murray, Garvin, Jefferson, McClain, Grady & Stephens counties (OK) — within Matt’s personal onboarding range. Starting close to home on purpose — the model is tuned to North Texas and southern Oklahoma grass, and we’d rather be right here than vague everywhere.

Reserve your slot for this season

Founding Rancher Program — for a handful of rotational-grazing ranches in North Texas and southern Oklahoma within Matt’s personal onboarding range: Grayson, Cooke, Collin, Fannin, Denton & Wise (TX) and Love, Marshall, Carter, Johnston, Murray, Garvin, Jefferson, McClain, Grady & Stephens counties (OK).

Founding Rancher Rate

$299 / year

One payment of $299 covers 12 months, including winter grazing and hay/cube months. It is not billed every 3 months, and it is not a monthly subscription. Founding ranchers who stay active lock in this rate. Pricing will move once the validation study is complete — you get in at the ground floor.

The season guarantee: this season we’re running a formal clip-and-weigh validation of the model. If Bluestem’s forage estimates miss by more than ±20% against clip-and-weigh measurements on your own paddocks over your first season, you get the full $299 back. That’s the same accuracy bar we hold the model to internally — if it doesn’t clear that bar on your grass, you shouldn’t pay for it. (Measured together: Matt clips and weighs with you at scheduled checkpoints during the season.)

What’s included

  • Matt personally sets up your paddocks — drawn together on a map, first satellite read the same week.
  • Satellite grass readings and rotation guidance for the full year, including winter.
  • Proven on Matt’s own ranch in Cooke County — run on live grass every day, not built to demo.
  • Direct line to the person building it. Your ground truth helps make the model right for this country.

Just shipped — founding ranchers get them from day one

The multi-ranch portfolio view and advisor tools (client-branded reports, advisor-branded dashboard) shipped this month — founding ranchers and their advisors get them from day one. A full self-serve multi-advisor portal is on the roadmap; today Matt sets each ranch up personally at no charge.

Reserve your slot — $299 per year →

Stripe Payment Link — the fallback $299-per-year path if you are not checking out in the mapping app. One payment covering 12 months, not billed every 3 months. Card processed securely by Stripe. Concierge buyers: Matt reaches out within one business day. Self-serve Checkout lives in the app, not on this page.

Who this is for

Rotational-grazing ranches of any size — whether you run 3 paddocks or 30 — in Grayson, Cooke, Collin, Fannin, Denton & Wise counties (TX) or Love, Marshall, Carter, Johnston, Murray, Garvin, Jefferson, McClain, Grady & Stephens counties (OK) within Matt’s personal onboarding range. If you’re not sure whether that’s you, just call — Matt would rather tell you honestly than waste your time or his.

Not the right fit today: confined or feedlot operations (no paddocks to read), ranches outside the TX/OK service area, or anyone needing certified agronomy reports (Bluestem gives operational estimates, not consultant-grade certifications).

Rather skip the form and just talk? (940) 277‑6531 — call or text. Or fill out the inquiry form if you’re not ready to pay yet — no pressure either way.

Who you’re dealing with

Matt Dickson — I help my family raise Corriente cattle on 70 acres in Cooke County, about 30 in active rotation, and built BlueStem to run our grazing. Rancher first, software builder second.

Put your name in

No charge, no card, no spam. Matt reads every one of these himself.