TOPEKA — Ecologists at Kansas State University are outfitting Flint Hills grassland cattle with tracking collars to create a virtual electronic fence capable of creating a protective buffer for fragile streams and ground-nesting birds.
The Nature Conservancy provided a $435,000 grant to Kansas State for work with the National Park Service, the Kansas Grazing Lands Coalition and private producers to determine if “virtual” fencing could supplant portions of labor-intensive and high-cost wire fences on vast grazing pastures.
The idea is cattle collars and advanced GPS tracking could define exclusion zones where no physical fence existed. Cattle could be directed by use of distinct audio noises or low-power shocks.
