Some of the latest technology in livestock management has been in use at the East Moraine Community Forest in Wallowa County, but looking around the 1,835-acre property you might not even realize it’s there.

Fencing lines the perimeter of the moraine, but once inside the community forest there isn’t a structure to be found. At least, not one that you can see.

That’s because the East Moraine Community Forest is one of three places in northeastern Oregon where Oregon State University is testing the capabilities of virtual fences in managing cattle, said Pete Schreder, OSU Extension Agent.

He believes virtual fences have the potential to change how ranchers manage their livestock.

The system includes solar-powered towers that create a virtual fence line. The collars, which are fitted with a GPS transceiver, will make a noise if the cow approaches the virtual fence. If the sound doesn’t persuade the cow to move away, the collar can produce an electric pulse that doesn’t harm the animal but keeps them inside the boundary.

The East Moraine Community Forest is owned by Wallowa County. It is a public, multi-use property, managed for timber, livestock, wildlife habitat, cultural resource conservation and recreation.

Schreder said that one of the concerns that evolved while working on the master plan for the moraine was livestock management. One of the obstacles was fencing. This was in part due to the cost of fences, but also due to concerns of how fencing would impact recreation use and wildlife movement.

“We started to explore some other options and one was virtual fencing,” Schreder said.

Looking at the numbers

Typical barbed wire rangeland fencing in an area like Wallowa County costs anywhere from $18,000 to $24,000 per mile, Schreder said. He estimated that he would need roughly 3 miles of fencing at the moraine for cross fencing and to fence out the exclosure areas. Schreder estimates the cost just to install the interior fencing would be around $75,000.

“Then you’ve got annual maintenance because now you’ve got a physical structure. Just on the maintenance you’ve got animal damage and wildlife damage,” he said. “There’s several thousand dollars just to have somebody go out and maintain it.”

When it comes to virtual fencing there is an initial cost as well as an annual cost. Schreder said the moraine project employs a technology called Vence, which utilizes towers and collars. The towers cost around $6,000, and due to the rugged terrain at the moraine, they needed two towers. Schreder added that they put the towers on trailers for the research project.

There is also the price of the collars fitted to each animal. The technology is still developing and evolving, Schreder said, so the collars currently are rented rather than owned. Each collar costs $48 per year.

Benefits and limitations of technology

Flexibility is one of the major benefits of virtual fences, according to Schreder.

“When you put in a hard fence then you’re committed to that rotation into perpetuity until you move the fence or it wears out. The nice thing about the virtual fences, you can vary that design throughout the year,” Schreder said. “So, you’re not bound to those physical structures, and I think in the future that’s going to be a much better way to manage pastures on the landscape because you can vary your rotations endlessly.”

Schreder added that it doesn’t take the cows long to learn the system. The cattle are introduced to the technology in an area they are familiar with, such as a home pasture or smaller range land. At first, you associate the virtual fence with a physical fence. Schreder explained that one way to do this is by laying the virtual barrier over an existing physical barrier, so that as the cows are grazing and they get close to the physical fence, they start getting the audio cues from the virtual one. Then if they get too close the cows get the physical cue of a shock.

Schreder said that they give the cattle a couple of days to get acclimated before moving one of the virtual fence lines away from the physical fence. You then give the cows the opportunity to test and learn those cues for another few days.

“Within five to seven days they’ve really learned to respect the cues,” he said.

There are of course some limitations when it comes to virtual fences. Schreder said that with virtual fences there has to be plenty of space for the cattle to maneuver. On smaller pastures, such as a 100-acre site on a ranch, there are likely to be more restrictions and barriers with tight spots and corridors where you can’t put a virtual fence because it doesn’t give the cattle enough room.

For example, he said, you can’t build narrow corridors with virtual fences like you could with an alley fence since the cattle would bounce off both sides with the cues. However, on larger landscapes between 500 and 1,000 acres, Schreder said you can come up with other ways to accommodate these pinch points.

“No system’s perfect. I mean, even physical fences, animals get through,” he said. “It’s understanding where and how to put the virtual fence system on the landscape.”

He believes that the virtual fence technology will continue to advance and improve. He said there are multiple companies exploring the technology, each looking for their market niche. This competition will lead to better products for the consumers.

“That’s why they don’t want to sell you the collars right now because the technology is changing so much. But I think in the next three to five years, it will be refined enough that all of those pieces will be kind of honed in,” Schreder said. “As that gets solidified, I think it’ll make big leaps and bounds here in the future really quick.”

“So, you’re not bound to those physical structures and I think in the future that’s going to be a much better way to manage pastures on the landscape because you can vary your rotations endlessly.”

— Pete Schreder, OSU Extension agent in Wallowa County, tallking about the benefits of virtual fencing for livestock