DuBois column - Virtual Fences

 

Virtual fences

Don’t fence me in

Everywhere you turn we have virtual this and virtual that, and now we have virtual fences.

The BLM is working with ranchers to do just that, install virtual fences.

Funded in part by a grant from the Natural Resource Conservation Service, plus money from the BLM and Colorado Parks and Wildlife, this first-ever virtual fencing program has grown from one rancher with about 135 cows to now more than 2,000 cows. They have installed 10 towers in two counties that are pinging livestock on over 500,000 acres.

Hilary Boyd, assistant field manager in the BLM’s Colorado River Valley Field Office says, “How can we manage livestock without structure? Now there are endless possibilities. You can sit on your screen, figure out where you want to send your animals, how long you want them there and how you are going to move your animals across the landscape.”

So why do you need a rancher? It turns out the cattle need to be trained on the new system. Each cow has a collar that makes a noise as they approach a virtual fence, and if need be, a shock is applied to their ears. The younger cows, being turned out for the first time, quickly adapt to the system. The older cows who are accustomed to roaming the range, take a little longer to adapt. One article says a rancher can take up to two weeks to get the cattle to respond appropriately. Personally, I’m not sure who is being the most trained, the cow or the rancher.

The University of Idaho has received a grant for a ‘four-year field project for researchers at U of I and Washington State University to test the safety and efficacy of a prototype virtual fence system that uses novel features to manage cows, sheep and other grazing livestock with minimal ecological footprint.” The rationale here seems to be a little different. Karen Launchbaugh, director of the U of I Rangeland Center, says, “As wildlife habitat becomes increasingly fragmented and recreational activities on rangelands continue to grow, maintaining unobstructed corridors for movement of wildlife and humans is critical.”

More hikers and more wildlife means more control over the rancher and his livestock,

All we need now is some virtual post hole diggers, and maybe even a virtual BLM range con.

Until next time, be a nuisance to the devil and don’t forget to check that cinch.

Frank DuBois was the NM Secretary of Agriculture from 1988 to 2003, is the author of a blog: The Westerner (www.thewesterner.blogspot.com) and is the founder of The DuBois Rodeo Scholarship and The DuBois Western Heritage Foundation

CORRECTION: In last month’s column, while discussing the Bison Preserve, I wrote the BLM had issued a grazing permit for sheep on 60.000 acres of federal land. That should have been for bison, not sheep.