This is Part III in a KHOL series: The Unfenced West. Read our first stories on fence removal and collaring goats. – Ed.
Barbed wire is so last century. Tech-savvy ranchers are adopting virtual fences to reclaim their free time and cut costs, while leaving behind a culture war of “fake” cowboys.
This spring, high-tech cattle collars became an even better option for ranchers in rough terrain when New Zealand-based company Halter became the first to connect to satellite. That could replace the need for costlier cell towers, which have been the virtual fencing norm, but require multiple installations on larger operations.
“If you’re around some really remote, barren land, no cell service at all, you are able to put these collars on your cows,” said Theo Beaumont, Halter’s head of U.S. partnerships. “It’s really opened up any terrain in any part of the U.S.”
One of Jackson’s oldest ranching families is among the first to give the new technology a go. After a year using Halter’s original collars, the Mead family will switch over to the company’s Starlink-integrated version this fall.
“You can be anywhere in the world,” said Kate Mead from her kitchen table at the family’s Spring Gulch ranch. “As long as you have a Wi-Fi connection, you can look and see where the cows are.”
Virtual fencing companies, like Halter, let ranchers draw maps with precise boundaries on mobile apps. The cows get warning beeps if they go too far, and a shock if they venture beyond.
It’s already helped the Meads find stranded cattle or keep them away from restored springs with uber-precise boundaries. It’s also much cheaper than a physical fence, which can cost tens of thousands of dollars per mile to install, not to mention upkeep.
The Meads pay a per-cow subscription at a rate of $62 per head for the original collars. In two years, the satellite rate goes up to $92.
(Jenna McMurtry / KHOL)
Kate is a county school board member who also worked as a water lawyer in Arizona. She and her husband Brad keep the ranch up and running for a small-scale beef business, alongside their adult kids. That includes their son, Sam, who recently ran for the GOP nomination for the U.S. Senate but lost in the primary.
Mead beef products can be found at a local boutique butcher such as Sweet Cheeks or on a high-end menu like Snake River Grill. But to get to market, ranching takes a lot of work, moving hundreds of cows several times a year in and around the ranch and grazing leases, often in the Gros Ventre foothills.
On a mid-June morning, Mead drove around on an ATV checking in on the cattle. They’ve just brought back the herd for the summer.
“When they’re getting off the truck,” Mead said, “they look around like, ‘We’re home’!”
Instead of wrangling and blocking off grazing pastures with new fences each time cattle return, the Halter collars mean a lot less work for the Meads.
Having encouraged the shift to wildlife-friendlier fences, or no fences at all, the Teton Conservation District hopes to see more ranchers hop on board.
“Traditional physical fences are an input for ranchers…to maintain the cost to install something that continuously can break and be ineffective,” said Robb Sgroi, the district’s land resources specialist. “Additionally, it’s something that is a barrier on the landscape [and] for wildlife movement.”
Sgroi only knows of one other ranch using virtual fencing in Jackson. The Meads are likely the first to use the satellite version, he said.
The family doesn’t plan to fully remove their perimeter fence to keep their stock separate from others and away from a busy road. But wildlife passersby now have fewer chances of getting tangled up in wire.
Kate and Brad have to plan for retirement. The idea that the next ranchers in the family may have less labor-intensive work excites them. It also might keep them involved a little longer.
“It can be a game changer for that older generation rancher,” Mead said.
The collars are gaining traction, though some are hesitant. Mead said the family’s Thermopolis-area ranch manager has taken more heat.
“Travis is getting a lot of flak from the guys who consider themselves ‘real cowboys,’” Mead said, but maintains it’s not getting rid of the craft.
It’s increasingly hard to find enough ranch hands with adequate training for the job, said Jim Magagna, who heads the
Wyoming Stockgrowers Association. The collars should help with the labor crunch, not eliminate it, he suggested.
(Jenna McMurtry / KHOL)
“I can see this is becoming not a total replacement, but helping to reduce the pressure,” Magagna said.
While at the helm of a statewide association, he said interest is mounting, but only as familiarity with the new technology grows, too. For some ranchers, satellite collars only make sense based on the size, scale and location.
“As ranchers, we don’t immediately jump on every new technology that comes along because a lot of those have to be more widely tested,” Magagna said.
