Technology could be the answer to an age-old dilemma in Wyoming — containing cattle without putting too many fences in the way of migrating wildlife.
Three Sheridan-area ranches tried “virtual fences” this year as part of a pilot program sponsored by the Sheridan Community Land Trust.
Cows are fitted with electronic collars that respond to signals sent via signal towers from the rancher's phone.
The rancher configures an invisible electronic perimeter via a phone app. Signals sent to the collars cause them to vibrate, telling the cows which direction to go.
If a cow comes too close to the virtual barrier, this can have consequences.
The collar “sends a sound to warn the cow of the border” and then delivers an electric shock if the cow continues to push forward, Dan Reinke, one of the ranchers in the pilot program, told Cowboy State Daily.
He has grazing leases on the eastern slope of the Bighorn Mountains and attempted to virtually fence 120 cows this summer.
He said he was so happy with the results, “I ordered 280 more collars” so he can keep 400 cows with virtual fences.
He said virtual fences not only streamline his cattle operation but also help wildlife.
“Minimizing the number of fences is a wildlife benefit” by giving deer, elk, pronghorn and other critters more freedom of movement, he said.
Game and fish on board
Fences can hinder wildlife on long hikes or on daily migrations between food and water sources and resting places.
Wildlife researchers say antelopes were trapped in Wyoming's Red Desert during the harsh winter of 2022-2023, freezing or starving because they were blocked by fences in some places.
The Wyoming Game and Fish Department and conservation groups are promoting wildlife-friendly fences designed to make it easier for antelopes to crawl under or jump over deer and elk.
According to Game and Fish, virtual fences could also be a big help.
The agency and other organizations plan to host a symposium on virtual fencing on January 8, 2026 at the Cam-plex Central Pavilion building in Gillette.
“While most of the discussion at this event will focus on livestock movement, a virtual fence may also have tremendous benefits for wildlife movement,” said Todd Caltrider, land-based wildlife and fish habitat biologist in the Sheridan area, in a statement from the agency.
“Constructing and redesigning existing physical fences to animal-friendly standards has been and will continue to be a focus of wildlife conservation work in recent years,” he added. “But in areas where this is an option, a virtual fence can eliminate the possibility of fences altering or blocking wildlife movement and prevent animals from becoming entangled in wires.”
Virtual fences could be “another tool in the toolbox” to mitigate wildlife problems, said Gregory Nickerson, author and filmmaker with the Wyoming Migration Initiative.
It could improve existing approaches such as overlaying livestock fencing during wildlife migration seasons, he said.
Antelope and mule deer, which have some long migration routes through Wyoming between summer and winter ranges, could benefit most from virtual fences, Nickerson said.
The decision should be left to ranchers, he said.
“Livestock managers are the ones responsible for these decisions,” he said. “Which fencing or virtual fencing you want to use is up to you.
“That’s how it should be because they know their animals and their processes better than anyone else.”
Cattle breeders are fascinated
Whether virtual fences are the next big thing for ranching in Wyoming remains to be seen, but some ranchers told Cowboy State Daily that the idea is intriguing.
“You hear a lot about it and people are pushing for it,” said Dennis Sun, a Casper-area rancher.
He said he could see it working in some areas, particularly on flat terrain where there is a good “line of sight” between signal towers.
His daughter Andrea recently attended a symposium on the Sheridan-area pilot program and said she was impressed by what she saw.
“It's kind of interesting how the cows respond to the signals (from the electronic collars),” she said. “I think it’s a tool that can be used in certain cases.”
Brett Moline, spokesman for the Wyoming Farm Bureau Federation, agreed that there has been a lot of talk about virtual fencing.
“As with any new technology, it's going to work wonderfully for some people. For others, it's not going to work at all,” he said.
He noted that you can't escape front-end work.
Putting collars on hundreds or even thousands of cows takes effort and time, Moline said.
And the placement of the towers is also crucial for success, he said. In areas with steep hills, deep ravines, etc., more towers are required to maintain a good signal.
As cattle become accustomed to a virtual pasture and the negative consequences of crossing the border, it could be difficult to get them back out when the time comes, Moline said.
“You might say, 'Uh, I'm not going through this because I'll go into shock,'” he said.
Design cost-effectively
There are also costs to consider.
For the pilot program in Sheridan County, the Nature Conservancy stepped in to cover the cost of the cell towers, which are about $4,500 each, Community Land Trust spokesman John Graves told Cowboy State Daily.
Equipment for the Sheridan County program comes from a New Zealand company called Halter, one of four major virtual fence manufacturers.
Reinke said he rents the cow collars from Halter for $72 each. The lifespan of the collars is estimated at three years.
He pays a $600 annual subscription fee for the app to run the virtual fence.
Any system comes with a cost, and physical fences aren't cheap, he said.
Traditional barbed wire fences can cost $10,000 per mile in ideal terrain.
In rugged, rocky terrain, such as where he runs livestock, the cost of fencing can be $24,000 per mile or more, Reinke said.
Easy configuration
A practical feature of the virtual fence is that it can be quickly reconfigured via the app. Moving wire fences to redesign pastures, on the other hand, is labor-intensive and time-consuming, Reinke said.
The system can also make grazing more efficient. By using the vibration signal, he can cause cattle to move to different parts of a pasture rather than just camping in one spot, Reinke said.
The area where his grazing leases are located was hit hard by the massive elk fire in 2024.
Reinke said using the electronic collar prompts has made it much easier to guide his cattle to areas with less fire damage and better forage.
The system also helps him get cattle to graze the grass in areas that then need to be sprayed with herbicides to prevent the spread of invasive weeds, he said.
Graves said the Sheridan County pilot program is designed to last three years.
This year it was about using the systems together with Reinke and the two other ranchers. There will be field tours next summer so people can see firsthand how virtual fencing works.
In the third year there will be an assessment of how everything went, he said.
If all goes well, virtual fences could take off in Sheridan County, Graves said.
Ranchers will likely always use physical fences along property lines.
Virtual fences could replace the need for many “indoor fences,” making work more efficient for ranchers and better for wildlife, he said.
“Virtual fences will never replace property fencing, which is why we support animal-friendly fences,” Graves said.
Mark Heinz available at mark@cowboystatedaily.com.