Virtual fence: a tool to improve precision of conservation strategies for livestock management

Authors: OTGUN, HANIFI - University Of Nebraska-Lincoln; O'Connor, Rory; DENNIS, ELLIOTT - University Of Nebraska-Lincoln; STEPHENSON, MITCHELL - University Of Nebraska-Lincoln; DICKINSON, KRISTIN - Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS, USDA)

Submitted to: Rangelands
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 6/22/2026
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary: Livestock producers who graze their livestock on rangelands rely currently on fences to control where their livestock are located, but maintaining these fences is time consuming and costly if the fences have to be replaced. Use of virtual fencing technology alleviates some of the costs associated with traditional fencing and provides additional opportunities for improved livestock management and pasture use as well as creating conservation opportunities for improving rangelands. We went through the current virtual fence peer-reviewed literature and USDA-NRCS programs to assess how virtual fence and current NRCS programs can help livestock producers improve conservation on rangelands. We found that virtual fence has the ability to improve ecosystem services and landscape connectivity and reduce wildlife entanglements while providing better grazing management. These outcomes from virtual fence use on rangelands in conjunction with USDA-NRCS programs provides a good framework for improving ecosystem services on United States rangelands.

Technical Abstract: Grazing management on rangelands traditionally relies on physical fences to control the timing, intensity, and duration of livestock grazing, but these systems require substantial initial investment and ongoing maintenance. While effective, physical fencing can create environmental challenges by disrupting landscape connectivity, increasing wildlife entanglement risk, and concentrating grazing pressure in ecologically sensitive areas. Virtual fencing (VF) uses GPS-enabled collars with auditory and electrical cues to contain livestock within user-defined boundaries, allowing producers to dynamically manage animal distribution without installing physical fences. VF can redistribute grazing pressure to reduce localized rangeland degradation and create flexible exclusion zones that help protect sensitive areas across grazing landscapes. By supplementing or replacing physical fences, VF has the potential to improve wildlife movement and connectivity while supporting adaptive livestock grazing management, though additional field-based evaluation is needed to assess long-term effectiveness.