EHS senior Rylie Copeland: A young innovator changing the game in agricultural mechanics

Most teenage boys are consumed with sports, video games, and hanging out with friends — but Rylie Copeland isn’t like most teenagers.

At 18, he towers over most of his Eaton High School classmates, often sporting a cowboy hat, Wranglers, and a western belt buckle. But what truly sets him apart is his entrepreneurial spirit. Rylie owns a fully licensed and insured lawn and sod company, which he operates after school.
 

It was his hands-on experience maintaining commercial properties that led him to engineer a groundbreaking project in his Northwest ISD Career and Technical Education classroom: a remote-controlled flail mower. He calls it the Pasture Badger — a machine designed to tackle dangerous mowing conditions — and it has already won him top honors, including the Supreme Grand Champion in Agricultural Mechanics at the Fort Worth Stock Show & Rodeo.

Solving a Real-World Problem

“A lot of my commercial properties, something I struggle with are steep slopes, ditches and low-hanging tree branches,” Rylie explained. “I’m not comfortable being on the machine in those situations. This allows me to stay safe at a distance, letting the machine work for me.”

His invention addresses a real safety concern in the landscaping industry, where injuries and fatalities from overturned commercial riding mowers are all too common. In June 2023, a landscaper in Flower Mound tragically lost his life after being pinned under a commercial mower near a steep pond bank, according to NBC 5 DFW.

The Pasture Badger offers a safer alternative. Like a supersized remote-controlled car, it is operated entirely via remote control, allowing the user to mow hazardous terrain from a safe distance.

Engineering the Pasture Badger

Industrial remote-control flail mowers can cost thousands of dollars, but Rylie designed and built his prototype in just three months at Eaton’s welding shop. With the support of his father and guidance from his teacher, he dedicated over 1,680 hours and invested more than $10,100 into the project.

“It's pretty extensive,” Rylie said of the planning process. “It's not something you can just buy off the shelf or find plans for. You really just have to sit down with a pen or pencil and figure it out; all the way from the metal fabrication to the programming of all the software. We watched YouTube University. A lot of the electrical components that we used are applicable to a RC airplane.”

One of his biggest challenges was programming the hydraulic system, which uses pressurized liquids to create force and motion. 

“The hydraulics had never been done before in the way that we did them,” Rylie added. “It was a lot of trial by fire until we figured out something that worked.”

Despite his hard work, Rylie hasn’t used the Pasture Badger for his business just yet since he is still presenting it in agricultural mechanics competitions statewide. 

A Standout Student in the CTE Program

Rylie joined Northwest ISD’s CTE applied agriculture engineering program as a freshman. The program offers eight academies and 23 fields of study, giving students hands-on experience with industry-standard equipment.

“Honestly, I didn’t even know about Ag until I started high school,” Rylie said. “But once I saw the shop, I thought it was pretty cool and just kept going from there.”
 

His CTE teacher, Chase Pulley, challenges students each year to create an agriculturally based project before Christmas break so they can present at stock shows. Most students build barbecue pits, trailers, or hay trailers — but Rylie wanted to think outside the box.

“He came in with just a picture,” Pulley recalled. “That’s all we had to go off, and he definitely went the extra mile to make it happen.”

Pulley admitted that while he was confident in Rylie’s ability to build the mower’s shell, the mechanics would require extra problem-solving.

“The hydraulic aspect — some of my background is in farming and ranching — and so with the flail head, I had access to go look at stuff in the real world and then bring that back and talk to Rylie about what pieces we needed to make it function,” Mr. Pulley said. “I told Rylie what we needed and he did some research on his own and found the parts.”

Building the electronic components of the Pasture Badger also pushed the boundaries of what students typically do in Pulley’s shop.

“It's a really awesome challenge and an awesome opportunity as a teacher — it keeps me learning from year to year,” he said. “When Rylie said he was going to build this, I was ecstatic.”

Watching students complete successful projects is the best part of his job, Pulley said.

“When everything works, the first go round and it does exactly what it is supposed to — that's an amazing feeling,” said Mr. Pulley. “It's always a privilege as a teacher to be able to have such an impact on any kid. Whether they are a project-building kid or don't decide to do projects and seek other opportunities within our Ag department, the opportunity to make a meaningful impact on students’ lives is probably one of the greatest gifts.”

Pulley, who has mentored Rylie since his freshman year, described him as a hardworking student who always pushes beyond his comfort zone.

“He’s not afraid to put in long hours or try something new,” Pulley said. “He’s an outstanding young man.”

He has encouraged Rylie to pursue mechanical engineering in college.

The Future of the Pasture Badger

After graduation, Rylie plans to attend community college while growing his business. Once it becomes self-sufficient, he hopes to pursue a bachelor’s degree.

For now, he’s focused on improving the Pasture Badger by adding GPS capabilities and new attachments.

Following his Supreme Grand Champion win in Fort Worth, Rylie showcased the Pasture Badger at the San Angelo Stock Show & Rodeo and will present it again at the San Antonio Stock Show & Rodeo.

And once show season is over?

“I’m gonna make it work for me,” Rylie said. “Take me out of some sketchy situations and let it do the job.”