A handful of ranches in the West are testing out a new fence technology for its potential environmental benefits.
The Property and Environment Research Center (PERC), a Bozeman nonprofit that advocates for free-market conservation, announced $400,000 in grants this week for eight ranches that want to become early adopters of virtual fences.
While barbed wire fences are a more common sight in the Mountain West, virtual fences have cropped up in the last few years. Ranch owners in other countries, such as Australia and New Zealand, have used them for years. They allow ranchers to track and control cattle’s precise movements via GPS-enabled collars that communicate with base stations. Cows hear a sound or get shocked when they cross a boundary.
“Being able to know where your cattle are and where they've been is really powerful,” said Anna Shadbolt, a research associate at Colorado State University’s Ag Next center.
Thus far, landowners have primarily used the technology to control grazing patterns. But PERC believes the system can also help minimize ranching’s environmental impact.
One grant awardee, the Badger Creek Ranch in south-central Colorado, plans to lay virtual barriers across 6,000 acres to prevent cows from entering stream beds.
“They're strategically keeping livestock out of those highly erodible zones to make sure that livestock aren't entering that that sensitive area,” said Travis Brammer, PERC’s director of conservation.
Other projects in Wyoming, Oregon and Montana will apply the technology to prevent conflict with predators and disease spread from migrating big game.
While ranchers aren't likely to take perimeter fences down, Brammer said virtual fences could reduce the need for barbed wire fences within ranches, which could ease migration hurdles for elk, pronghorn and mule deer. They could also encourage lower intensity grazing by directing cows to vegetation that’s ready to be eaten versus plants that could use more time to grow.
Shadbolt’s team is exploring a similar idea in a research study located in eastern Colorado. They want to see whether virtual fences could help the threatened lesser prairie chicken by shielding its habitat for mating and nesting from cows. She said she’s inspired by the variety of ideas she’s seeing ranchers and researchers test out, and expects an uptick in virtual fences in the region.
This story was produced by the Mountain West News Bureau, a collaboration between Wyoming Public Media, Nevada Public Radio, Boise State Public Radio in Idaho, KUNR in Nevada, KUNC in Colorado and KANW in New Mexico, with support from affiliate stations across the region. Funding for the Mountain West News Bureau is provided in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
