Use of virtual fence technology to manage cattle grazing in wildfire burn areas and/or critical wildlife/riparian habitats on Idaho rangelands

Commodities

• Animals: bovine

Practices

• Animal Production: rangeland/pasture management

Traditional permanent fencing, as well as temporary electrified fencing, have long been used to exclude livestock from critical wildlife and riparian habitats, and to modify distribution of livestock across the landscape to improve forage utilization. Traditional fencing can be expensive to build and maintain, disruptive to wildlife movement, damaged during wildfires, have potentially unintended negative impacts on ecosystems, and are often subject to procedural clearances for approval on public lands. A new technology that could be used in place of traditional fencing is virtual fencing, which relies on GPS generated geospatial fence coordinates and radio frequencies transmitted from base stations to/from collars attached to the neck of cattle. Collars emit audible and tactile electrical impulses that act to deter cattle from crossing user defined virtual boundaries while still allowing free movement of wildlife. Objectives of this research are to evaluate the effectiveness and economic viability of virtual fencing to contain cattle inside virtual boundaries, exclude cattle from critical riparian areas, sensitive wildlife/fish habitat, post-cheatgrass treatment areas, and severe to moderately burned wildfire areas to allow for post-wildfire recovery. Control of cattle distribution across the landscape and in critical use areas could result in a more balanced and sustainable utilization of forage resources. Use of virtual fencing technology as a part of grazing land conservation practices could also allow free movement of wildlife resulting from decreased dependence on physical fencing. Beneficiaries of this research include livestock producers, rangeland managers, tribal communities, and wildlife/fisheries conservationists working to manage and develop sustainable grazing management practices on steep and uneven terrain common in the Intermountain regions of the Western US. Project results will be shared with stakeholder groups through Extension outreach activities, public press articles, video and social media, scientific conferences, producer training sessions, and educational field days. This project will provide real world data on the best management practices for use of virtual fencing in varied topographies for use on public and private lands in the Intermountain west This project will provide science based outcomes on the how virtual fencing can control cattle distribution across the landscape to provide for a more balanced and sustainable utilization of forage resources; potential for use in post-cheatgrass treatment areas; exclude or limit cattle from critical fish habitats; provide virtual fencing practices to decrease the interactions of wildlife with physical fence; provide economic evaluations of the consequences of deferred grazing post-wildfire on public lands; and develop economic decision support tools for livestock producers and land managers considering managing cattle with virtual fence.

This project combines research and educational programs to develop best use practices for managing grazing cattle using virtual fence to enhance sustainable livestock grazing across upland and riparian areas across Idaho and Intermountain west. Research objectives will evaluate the effectiveness of virtual fence technologies to 1) exclude cattle from grazing post-wildfire burn areas, sensitive uplands, critical riparian and fish habitats, and post-cheatgrass herbicide treatment areas by analyzing absence vs. presence patterns of cattle using GPS locations inside and outside these areas throughout multiple grazing periods; 2) evaluate forage utilization in pastures, including inside previously described exclusion areas; 3) evaluate cattle distribution patterns across multiple years and seasons (summer vs. fall) for lactating and non-lactating cattle, and association with forage utilization; and 4) evaluate economic consequences of deferred grazing post-wildfire on public lands, and develop economic decision support tools for livestock producers and land managers considering managing cattle with virtual fence. This research will serve as a “proof of concept” to provide scientific-based evidence on using virtual fence to manage livestock grazing in post-wildfire burn areas while allowing resource recovery without deferred grazing. Using virtual fence, more sustainable grazing practices can be developed for sensitive uplands, post-cheatgrass treatment areas, and critical riparian and sensitive fisheries across different seasons of use. Educational goals are to provide an active training environment for livestock producers, private/public/tribal land managers, and graduate students on the use of virtual fence technologies and to share decision support tools for economic viability of using virtual fence and disseminate research results to stakeholders through educational delivery methods, including virtual fence training workshops, field days, and social media. This research will provide insight into using virtual fence to manage sustainable grazing while improving or maintaining critical rangelands, wildlife and fish habitats, and riparian ecosystems on public, private, and tribal lands.