WDFW, Producers Using Virtual Fencing To Improve Grazing

The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife and permittees have partnered to use virtual fencing technology to improve grazing management across the central portion of the state.  Fish and Wildlife’s Chad Edison said they use base stations, similar to GPS towers, as well as radio collars on all the grazing cows.

“You then use like an online application that allows you to set up a fence system that the base station relays to the callers, so the cows are getting signals," Edison said.  "The callers are getting signals from the base station, so you're able to. You, you know, essentially use a quote UN quote virtual fence to either augment a hard fence or create a fence in a location that you don't have a physical fence. So the way we're using that is to keep cows in certain portions of a grazing lease or push cows in certain sections of grazing lease that don't have a cross fence.”

The Department said this approach is currently being tested on the Columbia Basin Wildlife Area in Grant County, in an effort to reduce invasive, tall-emergent vegetation as well as promote shoreline habitats.

Edison said this technology is a win-win for everyone involved, adding the environment and wildlife benefit, as do participating producers.

"I mean in our case, you know the couple producers know where their cows are. If we have cows get out or if cows are on the wrong part of the lease, we know they're there, we can go look at them on the screen and know exactly where they're at," Edison continued.  "So, keeping track of your cows. Like forage use in standpoint, you can pay attention to where the cows are utilizing, whether they need to move."

The Department added the virtual fencing also allows for real-time cattle monitoring as well, reducing the risk of overgrazing and protecting sensitive areas.  Financial assistance from the Bureau of Reclamation is also being used to pay for the virtual fencing project.

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