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Improving Ecosystem Services with Virtual Fencing

Resource managers have been encouraging landowners to implement rotational grazing and riparian zone exclusion to improve vegetation health and water quality. However, materials, labor costs and inflexibility of traditional fencing have prevented adoption.

 

Virtual fencing offers a unique solution to overcome these barriers. The technology works by using GPS enabled collars on cattle to influence their movement throughout a pasture without the need of physical barriers. This can be used to implement critical area protection and/or rotational grazing.

 

How Does Virtual Fencing Work?

A base station is located in/near pasture, requiring cell service and powered by solar. A cell tower transfers real-time information between the base station and cloud services that manages collar data and provides user login access. The rancher can access this data from anywhere via the Internet, including editing paddock size and shape and seeing real-time cattle locations. Cattle are equipped with a GPS enabled collar that implements the virtual fence, requiring no cell service and powered by a battery. The collars provide an auditory and minor physical stimulus when an animal approaches a restricted area, encouraging them to remain in the determined boundaries.

 

Check out this video created by our partner, OSU Natural Resource Extension, showing virtual fence on the cow cam!

 

 

How Can Virtual Fencing Help Riparian Zones?

Improved grazing management, in the form of rotational grazing in this study and decreased cattle activity in riparian areas can result in significant water quality improvements. 

 

A riparian zone is defined as the transition area between land and a body of water, such as a stream, river, lakes or wetland. The riparian zone typically extends from the water's edge inland to the upland areas where the effects of the water diminish. 

 

Benefits of a healthy riparian area include:

  • Cleaner water

  • Stable streambanks

  • Improved in-stream habitat and fisheries

  • Diverse ecosystem and enhanced wildlife habitat

  • And more!

 

Drawbacks to a degraded riparian area include:

  • Poor water quality

  • Eroding streambanks

  • Deteriorated fisheries/habitat

  • Diminished wildlife populations

  • And more!

 

This study is addressing the effectiveness of virtual fencing for both rotational grazing systems and implementation of riparian buffers to determine the impacts on riparian health and water quality. Researchers are comparing these impacts at Oklahoma State University research ranges where 1) cattle have continuous access to the entire pasture and 2) pastures where rotational grazing and riparian buffers are implemented using virtual fencing technology.

 

Learn More from the Virtual Fencing In-Service Meeting 2023

 

 

Partners of OWRC:

  • Oklahoma Agricultural Experiment Station, Range Research Station

  • Oklahoma Conservation Commission

  • Oklahoma State University, Department of Animal and Food Sciences

  • Oklahoma State University, Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering

  • Oklahoma State University, Department of Natural Resource Ecology and Management

  • USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service

  • U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

 

This work is supported by USDA-NRCS grant number NR223A7500136034.

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