Cole Briggs and Zay Norman are innovators in South Dakota ranching.
The duo paired up to form Midland-based Ranchland Technologies, a company that provides products and services to agricultural customers using competitive pricing that is affordable to ranchers and farmers alike.
Briggs and Norman said they feel extraordinarily blessed to live and work with people who share their passion for livestock, land and old-fashioned values, but they aren’t afraid to shy away from new technologies that benefit livestock and livestock handlers.
Briggs and Norman have grown up in the cattle business and have first-hand knowledge of the inner workings of this industry. They have witnessed all the complications that come with working cattle and have a vested interest in making the corral safer and easier for both people and animals.
Briggs took over his five-generation family ranch, Trails End, in the 1990s in Midland, and is now in a partnership with his son, Chase Briggs. He started artificially inseminating and pregnancy-checking when he was 13 and later expanded to ultrasounds in the 1990s.
In 2008 he and his wife, Vicky Briggs, purchased Ranchland Technologies. In 2018 he and Norman created A to Z Technologies to create ways to make the corral safer and easier.
Norman started running a ranch in Midland at age 11 and later became a partner with four brothers to create Crocket Mountain Ranch and Gaylord-Norman Limited Family Partnership. He is now separated and has his own Limited Family Partnership.
On Jan. 5, 2017, during an operation where only 1 out of 2 million lose their sight, Norman became legally blind. After going through a rough transition, he and Briggs started A to Z Technologies in 2018 to share their vision in making innovative technology in the livestock industry.
This desire led them to create their first product, a one-of-a-kind, patented needle exchange system: the PrickGuard. The idea for this product came from the time-consuming demands of changing needles with pliers in the field for vaccinations.
Norman and Briggs said using pliers to exchange a needle from a vaccination gun is unsafe, cumbersome, and usually results in puncturing the person exchanging the needle, with used needles falling to the ground and rarely being recovered.
The other unique feature with PrickGuard is that users flip it over and voila, the user has a brand-new needle to replace the old needle, making the process of changing needles a breeze.
The PrickGuard is the product that eliminates pliers and free-floating needles from the corral by utilizing a single container, which results in time-saving safety and convenience in the field for the livestock handler. It also provides a fresh, sterile needle on the other end.
For more information, visit ranchland.tech, a website managed by the Rapid City Journal’s advertising partner, Amplified Rapid City.
Editor’s note: This story is brought to you by the Rapid City Media Group’s “Country Strong” promotion during the Black Hills Stock Show.
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