The nonprofit Property and Environment Research Center (PERC) is providing funding to help two ranches in northwest Wyoming install virtual fences.
The invisible fence technology involves putting a GPS collar on cows and tracking their location via towers. Cows are alerted with a beep, or in some cases a shock, if they go beyond certain areas. Many see the tech as a way to cut down costs and labor and removing physical fences can help wildlife migrate. Others point out legal questions about virtual fences, which will vary state-by-state.
Dustin Taylor plans to use $50,000 in grant funds to buy towers and collars that monitor his cows' locations. The funding came from PERC’s virtual fence conservation fund, that launched in 2024. Eight farms and ranches in five states are receiving more than $400,000 from the fund.
With the E Spear Ranch, Taylor runs about 400 head of cattle along the Wood River, a tributary of the Bighorn River southwest of Meeteetse.
“It's gonna help us manage the riparian areas really well. We're gonna be able to keep the cows off the river,” he said.
Taylor added, “It's almost impossible to fence that river off. And with the amount of wildlife that we have between elk, moose, deer, bears, it's pretty tough to get a good fence in there to keep the cows off the river at the optimal times.”
Taylor said he also will use the technology to monitor where predator conflicts occur and to eventually keep cows out of those places.
“ If we have a bear problem in one particular drainage, we can kick those cows outta there in a hurry and keep 'em out of that drainage. We're just hoping to minimize conflicts with the predators.”
PERC is also working with other conservation groups, including the Greater Yellowstone Coalition, on a virtual fencing project at the Pitchfork Ranch near Meeteetse.
