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OSMP pilots virtual‑fencing collars and towers to track and manage grazing; early data used to map cattle use
Summary
Open Space staff described a pilot of virtual fencing technology (Vence and a second system, Halter) that uses GPS collars and base stations to manage livestock and capture location data; staff reported early adoption challenges, cost details, and potential uses for fuels mitigation and grazing planning.
Open Space and Mountain Parks staff described a pilot program using virtual fencing technology to manage livestock across OSMP grazing leases and to collect high‑resolution livestock-location data.
Andy Pellster, Ag and Water Stewardship Senior Manager, told trustees OSMP purchased two Vence base stations and roughly 300 collars with grant funding to pilot the system this season. The Vence towers are mobile trailer-mounted units designed to provide line‑of‑sight coverage; staff said one tower typically costs about $12,000. Vence collars carry a one‑time purchase fee of about $100 and have an annual cloud/management fee of about $40; collar batteries are user-replaceable and require periodic replacement. Staff are also piloting a second vendor, Halter (a New Zealand system), with different hardware and pricing (Halter base stations cited at about $4,500 and an annual collar fee in the $70 range).
Andy described how collars operate: animals hear an audible cue as they near a virtual boundary and receive a humane electric pulse if they cross the line; animals can be trained to respond to the cues. OSMP used the collars this season more for data collection than as the sole containment tool; staff reported roughly 90% compliance in vendor discussions and said they would not remove physical boundary fencing in all cases. Early analyses included heat‑maps and animations showing where cattle spent the most time and how different grazing strategies — strip grazing, block grazing — distributed animals on the landscape. Staff said possible uses include reducing interior fencing, conducting targeted grazing for fuels mitigation, and improving tenant operations and monitoring.
Trustees raised questions about cost, economic feasibility for tenants, required tower coverage, reliability in areas with limited radio coverage, and the prospect of county/city-wide tower networks to support tenant adoption. Andy said the county and other local producers have interest, that the city/county could potentially jointly host towers, and that representatives suggested herd sizes of roughly 50 animals as a potential economic threshold for adoption of the technology.
OSMP funded the pilot; staff said the goal is to transfer annual collar fees to producers if adoption increases and to continue piloting in multiple locations next season, including potential fuels-grazing trials at Jewel Mountain and targeted grazing in Dakota Ridge and Tallgrass/Shanahan areas.
