Ranchers are using ‘virtual fencing’ to move their cattle

Virtual fencing uses GPS collars, sounds and electrical cues to move cattle across a landscape. Along with saving ranchers time, researchers say this new technology can help protect – and create – wildlife habitat.

From a distance, the cattle grazing at the Land of the Swamp White Oak Preserve in southeastern Iowa look like they’re wearing cowbells. But instead of metal domes and clappers, these accessories are outfitted with global positioning system (GPS) chips.

Staff with The Nature Conservancy, the organization that owns and manages the 4,000-acre preserve, can track the locations of the collared cattle from a smartphone app. They can also draw and adjust virtual fences to graze cattle in certain areas with invasive weeds – and keep them out of ecologically-sensitive wetlands and flo