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EDITOR’S NOTE: “From the Field” is a weekly newsletter bringing you the latest agriculture news in eastern Idaho.
IDAHO FALLS – A virtual fencing collar for cattle is a new management tool for Idaho ranchers that’s growing in popularity.
Lane Justus, Idaho resources coordinator for the Western Landowners Alliance — an organization helping to deploy more than 10,000 of the devices across the state over the next two years — tells EastIdahoNews.com it’s similar to the technology pet owners use to keep dogs in their yard. The only difference is that no underground infrastructure has to be installed.
The GPS-enabled technology allows ranchers to use an app to draw invisible fence lines within a certain geographic area. Cattle that step outside of that line are shocked.
“If the cows are about to hit a fence line, the collar will beep, and the cows can hear it. If they cross the line, there’s a shock,” Justus says.
Although the virtual fencing system has been researched for decades, it didn’t become commercially available until 2021. Justus says it’s a precision management tool that helps ranchers better track their cattle without the added expense of building a physical fence.
It also allows the U.S. Forest Service, U.S. Bureau of Land Management, and other agencies to protect wildlife habitat and areas impacted by wildfire.
RELATED | Local legislator wants to increase ranchers’ ability to improve Idaho’s rangeland
Jay and Cheyenne Smith are the owners of the Jay Lazy S Angus Ranch in Carmen, an unincorporated area about five miles north of Salmon. During the summer, the couple graze cattle on state, federal, and private land.
They started using virtual fencing technology in 2023, and Jay says it’s been a “game-changer” in a variety of ways.
“On one of our allotments, we have a little unfenced strip of BLM land (that we use),” Jay says. “We couldn’t ever get all the cows off the BLM strip. There’s always some on it all season long and they’re only supposed to be on it for two weeks. We would ride and ride and ride four days a week to manage that small strip of ground.”
With virtual fencing, Jay says they easily locate the stray cattle and move them inside the fence line.
Today, he says they’re only riding the area three or four days a year, instead of the same number every week.
Jay’s decision to start using virtual fencing was motivated in part by the 2022 Moose Fire. The human-caused blaze burned nearly 130,000 acres in the area where he grazes cattle. Two helicopter pilots were killed while helping to put it out.
RELATED | Unsafe flying conditions ground helicopters battling the 127,500-acre Moose Fire
Although Jay’s grazing allotment allows him to use up to 70,000 acres, the Forest Service prefers ranchers to avoid grazing cattle for two to three years after a fire.
“In October of 2022, when I got back up there and looked around, there were about 40,000 of the best acres that either weren’t burned at all or were burned very lightly. It just didn’t seem fair to not have grazing for two to three years when the world is so hungry for beef,” Jay recalls.
He proposed to the Forest Service that only certain areas be grazed and the others left untouched. Jay says it took a lot of negotiation, but ultimately, virtual fencing proved to be a win-win solution.
Jay says the technology is “an excellent tool for active range managers” and he recommends it to others.
Like Jay, Justus also says virtual fencing is mutually beneficial. A grant from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation helps offset the cost to ranchers, and that’s increased interest.
Justus says she’s grateful for the partnerships with state agencies and ranchers to help make the rollout successful.
“It’s still a fairly expensive technology and grants like this really help ranchers utilize the resources,” Justus says. “We’re learning a lot as we’re deploying it on the landscape, and there’s endless opportunity.”
AG AT-A-GLANCE
AgWest Farm Credit awards more than $3 million to 48 organizations
The following is taken from a news release from Ag West Farm Credit.
SPOKANE, Washington – Guided by its Local Advisory Committee members, AgWest Farm Credit is proud to award $3,029,821 to 48 organizations in communities throughout the West.
As a cooperative, AgWest’s purpose is to champion agriculture by serving as the most trusted resource, helping its customers, employees and communities thrive. In pursuit of this purpose, AgWest developed a unique stewardship program dedicated to helping rural communities.
Among the recipients in eastern Idaho are the Bear Lake School District No. 33 Education Foundation, Madison Fire Department Emergency Services National Academy, and Rexburg Family Crisis Center.
See the full list of recipients here.
University of Idaho launches statewide workshops to help horse owners keep animals healthy
The following is a news release from the University of Idaho.
MOSCOW, Idaho – University of Idaho Extension launched its most comprehensive statewide equine education effort in recent memory.
UI Extension offices in counties throughout the state emailed the assessment to adult horse owners and enthusiasts. They also promoted it at equine events, posted flyers with QR codes and advertised it on social media. Over four months in 2025, Extension received 140 responses.
Based on knowledge gaps uncovered by the assessment, Extension educators Sawyer Fonnesbeck, Oneida County, and Selena Davila, Lincoln County, created a workshop covering equine first aid, what to include in a first aid kit, biosecurity and basic nutrition. Biosecurity is an especially timely topic, given that several rodeos and horse events were canceled throughout the past year because of equine herpesvirus concerns.
Fonnesbeck and Davila presented the workshop in Burley and Rexburg in February, with a guest presentation by former Extension educator Brandon Brackenbury, a licensed veterinarian. They offered the workshop again in Malad and Shoshone in June. Horse enthusiasts in Butte and Franklin counties have expressed interest in future workshops.
Fonnesbeck and Davila plan to contact northern Idaho counties about offering workshops in the fall, following fair season. They also plan to develop a second workshop focused on dentistry, horse handling and tack fitting.
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The post Idaho ranchers go high-tech with invisible fences for cattle appeared first on East Idaho News.
