Virtual Cattle Fencing Could Have ‘Huge’ Potential for Getting Cattle Back on the Land

by Cami Koons

Cattle at a nature preserve in eastern Iowa appear to roam the land freely — no fences or cowboys on horseback patrol their movement. 

Instead, these cows wear special collars that keep them from grazing beyond the boundaries their owners designate via a phone or computer. 

The Nature Conservancy has studied this form of virtual fencing with cattle at its Land of the Swamp White Oak Preserve for the past three years with the hope that the technology can be integrated into other ranchers’ operations. 

Amy Crouch, The Nature Conservancy’s Little Sioux project director who headed the virtual fencing project, said the collars can give ranchers peace of mind, reduce labor on managed grazing operations, and help put cattle onto more land.

With the collars, producers can do things like easily keep cattle from grazing — and therefore defecating — in vegetation near a stream, which protects water quality. They also know where a cow is if it gets out of bounds, and they are alerted if a cow has not moved for a certain period of time. 

Crouch said she grew up with milk cows and remembers the feeling of being tethered to the farm to take care of the cows. 

“I imagine it’s the same for a lot of these producers who do the intensely managed grazing, where they’re moving them all the time,” Crouch said. “If they could have this labor-saving device, so they can concentrate on doing other things too, how tremendous.”

But, the technology is still relatively new to the country, which is why Crouch said The Nature Conservancy decided to run a pilot project. Now, interested Iowans have somewhere to learn about the technology and how it might work on an Iowa landscape. 

How does the virtual fence work? 

Crouch said The Nature Conservancy project started around 2021 when a company from Norway appeared at a Practical Farmers of Iowa event and told her about the virtual fence technology. 

“Think of it like an invisible dog fence,” Crouch said, explaining how the virtual fencing works. “But a little more sophisticated and complicated.” 

Cows are suited up with a GPS-enabled collar that sits on their necks like a stereotypical cow bell.

Then, cattle are moved into a traditionally fenced paddock, but with one open side. Operators use a computer or smart phone to set the virtual fence around the open side so the cows can learn how the fence works.

When cattle get a certain distance from the virtual fence line, they’re sent an auditory tone, then another louder tone as they get closer and finally if they get too close the collar gives a vibration. Crouch said the collar doesn’t give a shock, but the vibration is unpleasant to the cow. 

“They catch on so fast,” Crouch said. “They hear that tone, and they don’t even stop grazing, they just change direction and go a different way. So it’s really, really easy on them, and it’s easy on the farmer too.” 

Once the cows are trained on the collars, farmers can move the cows to a fully virtual-fenced paddock and use the technology to move the cattle, gradually through different grazing areas. 

The collars are solar charged, so once they’re on the cows, farmers don’t have to worry about trying to wrestle with a cow to switch out a battery. 

Crouch said occasionally they have had issues with cattle sitting under tree shade most of the day and losing charge on their collars, but she said ranchers in more open spaces might not have to worry about that as much.

Benefits of virtual fencing

Producers who use highly managed grazing techniques, or grazing that strategically moves the cattle through different pastures to balance manure and plant regrowth, typically move their cattle every day or every couple of days. Crouch said the virtual fence would save hours of labor for these types of operations, which are believed to improve soil and water quality. 

At the Land of the Swamp White Oak Preserve, Crouch said staff used the virtual fence to encourage cattle to chomp down on areas with an invasive species and then to stay out of sensitive areas like a wetland. 

But even for producers who don’t move their cattle as frequently, Crouch said the virtual fence alleviates a lot of time and a lot of worry, because farmers can see exactly where each head of their herd is with one glance at the application. 

It also saves time on fence management. With a virtual fence, farmers no longer have to spend time setting up and repairing fence lines.

Research into virtual fencing from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Northwest Climate Hub found the technology could even be beneficial to ranchers who operate in areas susceptible to wildfires. While traditional fencing would burn, farmers could quickly adjust their virtual fence boundaries to keep cattle away from burned areas, or areas susceptible to fire. 

“Theoretically, you could have a cornfield in the middle of your pasture and they’d stay out — well, you know, as much as cattle can resist that,” Crouch said with a laugh. “The push and pull of the unpleasantness (from the collar deterrents) or corn.” 

A herd equipped with a virtual fence system could also graze the cover crop on a neighboring field, or the back corners of a field that would otherwise be too hard to put cattle on with traditional fencing. 

“The potential for all of that is just huge,” Crouch said. “…that’s one of the huge things, getting cattle back on the land.”

Implementing

Crouch said the collars and technology are slightly more expensive than the cost of installing a new fence. But, she said the year-to-year cost of fence maintenance and labor, give the virtual fencing an advantage over traditional fencing. 

Crouch said she has been “very impressed” by the durability of the collars even though they’re outside and on a cow 24/7. 

“They’re dunked in water tanks and rolled on the ground and smacked on trees and they’re fine,” Crouch said. 

The hardest part, she said, is learning to put the collars on. 

That’s why The Nature Conservancy wanted to launch a pilot project. Now, farmers who are interested in implementing the technology have someone local to turn to with questions. 

Each August, the conservancy has led a field day for interested parties to learn about the collars and how they have worked on an Iowa landscape, though this year’s field day was canceled due to flooding. 

The field days give farmers the opportunity to see how the technology works, before they decide to invest thousands of dollars to implement the system in their operation. 

“They’re able to see it practically before deciding whether they want to implement it on their own place,” Crouch said.

Iowa Capital Dispatch is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Iowa Capital Dispatch maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Kathie Obradovich for questions: [email protected]. Follow Iowa Capital Dispatch on Facebook and Twitter.