Is virtual fencing right for you? Producer considerations for successfully deploying and managing livestock with a virtual fence system

Virtual fencing (VF) is a recent development in agriculture technology with a high potential to improve management outcomes on public and private grazing lands. Adoption is expected to accelerate as the technology improves in providing safe and effective management capabilities for diverse operating contexts. Although the applications of VF are numerous, it is not a silver bullet to solve grazing management issues and is not always beneficial for farm and ranch operations. We reflect on the operational characteristics that tend to lead to successful VF deployment based on direct experience using VF on working ranches in the United States over the last three years. We provide a set of questions and considerations and a decision tree to help producers determine their suitability for adopting and benefiting from VF as well as highlight when producers may need to adapt to realize the full potential of VF. These questions also elucidate when producers may be better served to look to other management approaches or tools rather than investing in VF at this time. Our goal is to provide realistic expectations of what VF can and cannot do and help producers be well prepared and succeed with deploying and using VF.