Montana Ranch Uses Virtual Fences to Track 1,750 Cattle Amid Wildfires

The Holland family has adopted satellite-based virtual fencing technology to monitor and manage their herd, a shift reflecting a structural change in livestock management on remote grazing lands. This method enables rapid response to environmental hazards like wildfires, which threatened their cattle last summer.

The collars, designed by a New Zealand company, communicate cattle locations via satellite, bypassing the lack of cellular or Wi-Fi coverage in the Beaverhead National Forest and Pioneer Mountains region. After wildfires shortened the grazing period to about 40 days, the family took two weeks to locate over a thousand cattle, a process that could be streamlined in the future using the app linked to the collars. Funding for fitting 1,750 mother cows comes from a USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service grant. Rancher Tell Holland notes the technology will enhance grazing management, while range rider Jamie Lode recalled the urgency during the wildfire response.

The Holland family is continuing to outfit their mother cows with these collars to improve future emergency responses and pasture use.

While Montana’s expansive public lands and limited connectivity make traditional fencing and tracking challenging, virtual fencing technology could offer ranchers here a more precise and timely way to manage cattle, especially during wildfire seasons that are becoming increasingly frequent and severe. This innovation may reshape operational practices in regions where geography and infrastructure constrain conventional methods.

Dillon ranchers implement virtual fencing technology to track cattle
By Meagan Thompson, KTVH