For the Berquists, ranching is a family business. But with 12,000 acres across rugged Idaho terrain 150 miles away from their homebase in Washington, time and distance were not on their side—especially when it came to roundups.
With physical fencing and traditional ways of working, their riders often spent whole months in the mountains, riding 10 to 12 hours a day to keep cattle inside Union Cattle Company (UCC)’s leased property for rotational grazing. “They put in long hours and were away from their families. That’s hard,” says Caleb Berquist, who operates UCC with his parents and sister. Roundups would start mid-September, and the UCC team would be lucky to wrap up by Thanksgiving.
Incorporating the latest virtual fencing technology, however, has drastically changed things for the Berquists. Vence virtual fence allows their range riders to pinpoint the location of the herd, saving time they traditionally spent looking for their herd. In fact, after implementing virtual fencing from Vence, their annual roundup timeline was cut from over 60 days to just eight days, allowing them to devote more time in Washington to the other tasks of running a ranch.
Tracking collars allowed UCC to make plans when cattle start to drift, and helped ranchers make the most of trips to round them up.
“With Vence, we can keep an eye on things from 150 miles away. Because we’re confident about the location of the herd, we don’t have to cover ground looking for cattle,” Berquist says.
Virtual fencing also makes it easier to cover for a crew member who is taking time off, something UCC encourages. “We might not know the lay of the land near as well as our range rider, but Vence can take me or another crew member right to the cows so we can push them where they need to go,” adds Berquist.
Implementing the technology was relatively easy, too. “Getting started with Vence takes some legwork, but it’s not rocket science,” says Berquist, who uses virtual fencing technology on the home ranch as well as in Idaho’s mountainous terrain.
“There’s a learning curve to setting up the base station, but once that’s done, you can shift focus to turning fences on and off and tracking the herd.”
He expects the process to become easier for him each year.
Overall, tweaking their ways of working and incorporating new technology has paid off for the Berquists and their ranch. It has saved them countless hours, increased transparency for management in Washington state, reduced stress on the crew and cattle, and saved costs of installing or maintaining traditional fencing. “I love that I can pull up Vence, see that our cows are all in, and tell our range rider he can spend another night at home with his family,” Berquist says. “That’s good for them and our business.”
To see the real savings UCC experienced with virtual fencing, download their case study.
