U.S. beef producers are using virtual fencing to create pastures this summer where none existed last year. They also are using the tool to create business opportunities for themselves.
Canda Mueller is a third-generation cow-calf producer in western Oklahoma. Growing up in the business, Mueller has the experience and the space to raise cattle. Whether she could do so profitably was another question. Years of weather extremes have taken a toll on the land and the quality of forage available. Some areas on her 640 acres looked more like a moonscape than a pasture, Mueller explains.
“We’ve seen so many things happen in the extreme weather of western Oklahoma,” she says. “Using virtual fencing, we’re reimagining how we fence cattle and how we move them from place to place. We’re able to correct or improve how we did things in the past when we didn’t have the tools or the knowledge we have now.”
Five years ago, Mueller started being more intentional about where she placed bales on the quarter of the property she lives on. She placed bales on areas with poor soil quality to draw cattle to the sites despite the lack of forage. As the cattle eat the bales, bits of uneaten hay become mulch for the soil, and their manure provides nutrients. Even their saliva feeds the soil microbiome to improve it for future forage growth.
“Anything they leave behind is good cover and protection for the soil,” Mueller says. “I’m creating a plan so I don’t have to apply fertilizer. The cows put as much back into the ground as I’m taking out.”
Mueller could see improvement in the areas she was bale grazing, so she kept at it. Two years ago, she started intentionally rotational grazing across her property to rest the pasture she had been working on.
“I realized virtual fencing made more sense than moving hot wires or investing in traditional barbed fencing,” Mueller says. “Hot wire, in particular, wasn’t working because the ground was too dry for the cattle to pay attention to it.”
Instead of fencing, Mueller draws paddock boundaries using an app on her phone or a platform on her laptop. Her cows wear GPS-enabled collars that deliver audio cues to encourage them to return to the herd if they approach the boundaries. If a cow continues to the boundary, the collar delivers a mild electrical pulse to reinforce the audio cue. After a seven- to 10-day controlled training period, the majority of cattle respond to the audio cues and never need the pulse.
Virtual fencing also made another forage improvement tactic possible: multispecies grazing. Mueller has been impressed with the results. Grazing goats alongside her cattle has made it faster and easier to improve forage quality. The goats eat small elm trees and other problematic brush that cows won’t eat, and they help in the ongoing battle against cedar trees, which consume a lot of water, Mueller says. The goats’ smaller hooves create divots that help pull water into the dry ground in the case of rain.
“They have made a big difference on the ground and improving the soil to improve grazing for the cattle,” Mueller says.
New Business With an “Old” Breed
Across the country, Melanie Jacobs is also reimagining what raising beef cattle can look like. Jacobs and her husband, Johnny, raise Pineywoods cattle on 200 acres about 60 miles north of Birmingham, Ala., and market beef directly to consumers. They did not plan to get into the beef business when they bought the property.
“We always said we would not have cattle,” Jacobs says. “Dad’s cows were always getting out, and there were so many challenges. I had no interest in doing that kind of work.”
However, the Jacobses agreed to take two Pineywoods cows and a donkey when they took over the property. Despite themselves, they fell in love with the livestock.
Virtual fencing helped turn that love into a business. Pineywoods cattle are hardy and low maintenance, which is a good fit for the rocky, hilly property. They are a heritage breed tied to the history of the Southern U.S., and Jacobs has joined a network of Pineywoods breeders who share what they learn with each other.
Jacobs was preparing to graze cattle rotationally in a large pasture and wanted to graze them for a short time in a wooded area to help manage brush. A neighbor’s harvested cornfield kept catching her attention, and she wanted to find a way to include it in her grazing plan.
“The physical fences around the field were in poor condition, and it felt like wasted opportunity,” Jacobs says. “Using virtual fencing, we added that cornfield into our rotation without having to build a new fence. We improved how we graze without adding inputs.”
Flexibility Empowers Success
Mueller and Jacobs appreciate how the virtual fencing system sends alerts to changes in cattle behavior. They can see when a cow separates herself from the herd and stops grazing, indicating she might be starting to calve. Jacobs also uses the virtual fencing system to bring cattle to the corral when needed.
“We just cinch their virtual pasture down and bring them in close so we can get them into the corral,” she says.
Mueller can’t say enough about the value of being able to move cattle without having to dedicate time or needing to be physically present.
“I’m a consultant and travel a lot for my other job. It is so helpful to get alerts when I need to check on a cow,” Mueller summarizes. “I can move the (virtual) fence while I’m traveling. I was in Mexico last week for work, changing the boundaries and texting my significant other to check on a cow. It’s such an incredible change in how I can work, and it gives me peace of mind that my cattle are OK.”
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