Future Fences: Technology Meets Tradition for Ranchers Across the West

Peterson works for The Nature Conservancy (TNC) as a rangeland ecologist for the High Divide Headwaters in Montana. Here, TNC is helping eight private ranches use a new tool called virtual fencing that allows ranchers to electronically contain their herds in grazing areas with less need for physical fencing.

The landscape these cattle graze is part of the Sagebrush Sea, a threatened ecosystem stretching across 13 Western states that provides critical habitat for hundreds of plant and animal species, including greater sage-grouse. Each year, the sagebrush biome loses an estimated 1.3 million acres to invasive grasses, such as cheatgrass, as well as drought-fueled wildfires, development and overgrazing. But along with its ranching partners, TNC is working to change that.

“As you approach a boundary, you hear beeps and then vibrations and finally an electric startle,” says Garth Fuller, conservation director for TNC in eastern Oregon, where TNC is helping some ranches implement virtual fencing. Fuller has tried a collar on himself. “It doesn’t hurt, but it gets your attention if you approach the set boundary.”

In Montana, Peterson says the virtual fences are being used for a type of rotational grazing in which cattle are frequently moved in tight herds from one area to another, mimicking how native wildlife graze and allowing the land to rest and native grasses to regrow.

“Ranchers can rotate those cattle frequently to different sub-pastures, within a larger pasture or allotment, without the use of physical fencing. Cattle get a constant supply of healthy, native grass, and the land has plenty of time to regenerate,” he explains.

The technology does not completely replace all traditional fencing, but the collars allow ranchers to quickly change grazing boundaries and define temporary pastures.

In Montana alone, more than 6,000 cattle across 250,000 private and public acres are participating in the project.

Peterson says TNC is “de-risking” the cost of the experiment for ranchers through paying for equipment and sourcing grants.

Ranchers are seeing time and cost-saving benefits, such as the ability to quickly locate their cattle through a smartphone app instead of spending hours and sometimes days physically searching. And they can avoid some of the expense of building and maintaining traditional fences, which can cost as much as $24,000 per mile.

“It’s really just trying win-win solutions that keep working ranches in business and maintain ranchers’ way of life while keeping the land healthy,” Peterson says. “The ranchers we work with know as much, if not more, about vegetation dynamics than my college training has given me. This is their livelihood and their passion. Ranchers are critical partners in conservation and the protection of our lands.”

Conservation Beyond the Fence

TNC’s experience shows the most effective conservation doesn’t end at property boundaries.

“Conservation doesn’t stop at a fence,” says Garth Fuller, TNC’s eastern Oregon conservation director. “The Nature Conservancy realized early on that it wasn’t just about keeping our lands healthy. It’s also about working with neighboring ranchers to come up with practical and beneficial ways for them to be able to keep their land healthy as well.”

Virtual fencing can help reduce fences in wildlife corridors across private and public lands. For instance, pronghorn struggle to jump fences; this technology makes it easier for them to freely migrate and reach food and water, Fuller says. It can keep cattle out of streams, improving water quality and riparian habitat. Additionally, using virtual fencing to concentrate grazing can help control invasive cheatgrass, while strategic grazing can create vegetation breaks that slow or change a wildfire’s behavior.

“Clean water and healthy grazing land are good for the cattle business and the environment,” Fuller says. “If we can do something that’s better for the animal, better for people and better for the land, I think that’s great.”

Benefits Across the West

Initial results from projects across the West are promising.

In 2022, TNC helped the Oregon Desert Land Trust acquire the 16,645-acre Trout Creek Ranch in southeast Oregon. The ranch includes cattle grazing permits on 500,000 acres of adjacent public land. The Oregon Desert Land Trust and TNC are working with ranchers who use the private and public land to incorporate virtual fencing into their grazing management.

“Our partners are seeing it as new technology that can benefit them, maybe like how windmills were once seen,” Fuller says. “They’re seeing where virtual fencing can save them time and money. But it’s not some magic joystick where you can instantly make the cattle go where you want them. Virtual fencing isn’t going to replace the skill and knowledge of traditional ranching.”

In central Wyoming, TNC’s 5,000-acre Red Canyon Ranch is surrounded by 30,000 acres of public land open to grazing permits. TNC is partnering with neighboring ranchers to explore how virtual fencing can solve challenges such as containing cattle in remote mountain pastures where building physical fences is impractical.

“We’re in a drought here, so if we can utilize these remote locations but still contain them with virtual fencing, it’s better for the cows and less pressure on the land,” says TNC Wyoming Stewardship Director John Coffman.

Coffman says ranchers are also finding the technology useful for tasks such as feeding cattle in winter. Instead of searching for cattle before delivering feed, ranchers can place feed in one location and use virtual fencing to direct cattle toward it.

“It’s big country, and ranchers can spend days looking for their cattle. With the collars, you can see where they are on your phone,” he says.

Technology does not replace traditional ranching skills but helps with the day-to-day efficiencies that can add up over time.

“You still need cowboys and dogs to get up there and move cattle,” Coffman says. “Their kids, the next generation of ranchers who are native to digital technology, will maybe do even more with it. We're still at the front end of this learning curve.”