New virtual fencing could help ranchers while protecting native grasslands and wildlife

Wally Harbaugh, a cattle rancher from Jordan, Montana, wanted to improve the health of the land he works. He knew about the benefits of rest-rotation grazing—a method by which livestock are moved often to allow grazed areas to recover—but the feasibility felt questionable. For starters, Harbaugh Ranch is a hands-on operation, and installing and moving electric fences daily across this sprawling terrain would be a massive undertaking. Then there's the tremendous and varied topography of the land. Many of the landscape's steep hillsides and rocky outcroppings simply don't allow for fencing.

So when his wife, Heidi Harbaugh, came home from a friend's ranch talking about a new way to contain cattle without using a physical fence, Harbaugh was all ears.

"Why not let the computers do it?" he said.

Virtual fencing is still a new and developing technology—but it could transform how ranchers raise livestock while rejuvenating native grasslands and protecting wildlife that rely on intact and healthy prairie.

Conceptually, virtual fences for cattle are not unlike invisible fences for dogs found in many suburban areas—they keep animals confined via a collar and without a physical barrier. But they're far more versatile and less labor intensive because they rely on wireless technology to define where livestock can go instead of buried cables.

WWF's Sustainable Ranching Initiative funds and supports virtual fencing pilot projects across the Northern Great Plains—five in Montana and one in South Dakota—where ranchers use the technology on some or all their cattle (and even sheep). Early adopters of the tool will provide valuable insight into its benefits, drawbacks, practicality, and scalability.

"Part of what our Sustainable Ranching Initiative team at WWF has been doing is trying to support individual ranchers in lowering the risk of adopting certain conservation practices, and also helping people who want to test new technologies and techniques, accomplish that," said Aaron Clausen, program manager with WWF's Sustainable Ranching Initiative. "Virtual fencing is one of those things that people have an interest in, but it hasn't been tested at scale."

Ranchers working with the technology fasten georeferenced collars to livestock. The collars communicate with a satellite or reception tower to track the animals and keep them inside a boundary drawn by a rancher via a digital application. When a cow moves too close to the perimeter, the collar delivers an auditory signal first and then if the animal doesn't turn back, they feel a mild electric jolt.

Virtual fencing is extremely adaptive and, in some ways, easier than building or maintaining physical fences. Instead of traveling sometimes miles with a horse, utility terrain vehicle, or truck to move a fence to block or open a pasture, ranchers can simply draw a new fence line on a smartphone or tablet in the palm of their hand.

The decision about where and for how long cattle roam can be modified or adapted instantaneously, allowing ranchers to better respond to seasonal forage availability, protect sensitive environments, such as riparian river systems, or manage the growth of invasive plants through grazing.

"What I'm trying to do here is make it a little bit easier for me while improving the cows, the grass, the ecology of the whole operation," Harbaugh said.

More people are increasingly using temporary electric fencing and virtual fencing to facilitate cattle movement around the property and rest pastures more consistently year to year. Harbaugh plans to use virtual fencing to manage grazing within a large area cordoned off with a physical fence.

"Our pasture utilization and water utilization will be managed much more efficiently," he said.

Getting the system up and running—from collaring and training cattle to installing the reception tower—initially felt nerve-racking to Harbaugh. His family has run a traditional cattle ranch on this land since 1910, so his plans to shift from one or two livestock herds to six so that he can graze new areas and let others rest more frequently is a risk. But both Harbaugh's grandfather and father also embraced the new technologies of their days to advance ranching practices and that's a comfort—and necessity.

Fewer fences are better for wildlife

Ranches in the Northern Great Plains that use native grasslands host an array of wildlife seasonally and year-round, in addition to cattle. Pronghorn browse on sagebrush, breaking occasionally to freeze on alert for predators while mule deer spring through tall grasses. Their ability to move fluidly across the Northern Great Plains is essential to their survival.

Traditional fencing, usually four or five strands of barbed wire, fragments the landscape and restricts movement across both private and public lands, especially impacting wildlife such as pronghorn, deer, and elk. People have installed this fencing for centuries, and estimates of just how much now exists are difficult to know. To give some idea of the scale, the 2018 US Department of Agriculture Farm Bill subsidized over $300 million of fence installations on private lands in the US.

In this way, virtual fencing is a potential boon for wildlife. The technology allows ranchers to modify existing physical fences in a way that allows wildlife to migrate across the land. For example, when repairing a fence that was damaged in a fire in 2020, Harbaugh said he adjusted or removed wires to make the barrier more permeable.

"What it's going to allow us to do is put a virtual fence along our hard wire fence, where we might be able to take off a top wire, raise up a bottom wire," Harbaugh said.

And it's not just the elimination of fencing that helps wildlife; technology that eases the burden of frequently moving livestock to rest pastures can improve the overall health of native grasslands. The practice benefits soil health, increases plant diversity, and boosts forage production for cattle and wildlife. Flourishing, intact native grasslands allow wildlife to thrive. Since the Northern Great Plains is one of only four remaining intact temperate grasslands in the world, with nearly two-thirds of this 286,000-square-mile region having never been plowed or developed, it's more important than ever to maintain its health.

The risks of virtual fencing

Of course, as with any new technology, virtual fencing is not without its downsides and issues to sort out. Collars come at a high price point and the battery life is shorter than ideal. Occasionally, cows do not respond to the stimuli.

These hurdles—along with any doubts raised by other ranchers—haven't deterred Harbaugh. For him, adopting new technology and building on methods from previous generations has always been part of successful ranching, especially when the financial viability of the practice is at stake.

"We try to be encouraging about what we're doing here and we're very open to letting people ask us questions," Harbaugh said. "There's been other managed grazing systems in our local area that have also dealt with the same kind of skepticism, but the proof is in the pudding. When you go look at those ranches where those people are putting their managed grazing systems into play, it looks amazing."

As profit margins of family ranches narrow, raising concerns about the long-term economic viability of the livelihood, technology that reduces labor costs and time could help protect the livelihood for future generations.

"In order for us to live here for my entire lifetime, we have to do what it's going to take to make it profitable for us," Harbaugh said. "Managed grazing systems in partnership with the WWF is surely helping to stay here a little bit longer."

Learn more about WWF's Sustainable Ranching Initiative. 

The virtual fencing project at Harbaugh Ranch was supported through a partnership that included WWF, Pheasants Forever, and the Grazing Lands Conservation Initiative. Virtual fencing and other infrastructure development in the Northern Great Plains is funded through WWF's Ranch Systems and Viability Planning network (RSVP), a comprehensive support system for ranchers to develop sustainable grazing management plans with assistance from on-the-ground technical specialists and to access continuing education to improve ecological outcomes at scale. RSVP is funded by the US Department of Agriculture, the Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation, the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, McDonald's, Cargill, the Walmart Foundation, Margaret A. Cargill Philanthropies, the US Fish and Wildlife Service - Partners for Fish and Wildlife, and the Knobloch Family Foundation.