Forest Service sees benefits in bringing virtual fencing to North Routt

 Baili Foster envisions a day when fence posts will be replaced by signal towers and barbed wire by an invisible barrier, created by a livestock collar controlled from a cell phone.

Foster, the District Rangeland Program manager for the U.S Forest Service, is in the process of bringing virtual fencing to North Routt County.

...Foster wants to use virtual fencing where collars replace physical fencing to manage the livestock that’s permitted to graze on U.S. Forest Service land. The cattle will have collars that send out an audio signal when the cattle approach a boundary. If the animal continues, it will get a shock in much the same way an invisible, electric dog fence works.

She said the benefits include improving ranchers’ ability to keep livestock in a specific area, allowing for the implementation of rotational grazing techniques that improve wildlife habitat, keeping livestock out of sensitive riparian or burn areas, and more easily monitoring the animals’ wellbeing...MORE