Awards issued prior to january 20, 2025, were funded under previous administrations and may not reflect the priorities and policies of the current administration.** over 150 years ago barbed wire…

Awards issued prior to january 20, 2025, were funded under previous administrations and may not reflect the priorities and policies of the current administration.** over 150 years ago barbed wire transformed livestock grazing and management. Though wire fencing is effective, IT can fragment landscapes, harm wildlife, and is a major cost to ranchers. Wireless virtual fencing couples location-based communication technology with an aversive stimulus delivered to the animal when IT crosses a virtual boundary. Virtual fence systems offer exceptional management flexibility and reduce yearly maintenance requirements and eliminate obstructions for wildlife. Several virtual fencing systems have recently become available, but these systems are expensive and may not be widely applicable to a typical rangeland livestock operation because of expense and limited durability. A team of university of idaho and washington state university researchers are developing an alternative low-cost, low-energy electronic fence system that relies on proximity or distance sensing and anatomically effective animal reinforcement. This innovation is a simplified, low-cost approach to virtual fencing that leverages animal physiology and behavior, proximity beacons, and lightweight electronic ear tags to manage cattle distribution. This integrated project is centered around three inherently connected objectives: the first is to develop an ear-borne audio-electric reinforcement device to manage livestock movements. The second is to assess the attributes ranchers want in a virtual fence system and their economic considerations for such a system. The third objective aims to engage students to gain and understanding of stakeholder-driven and inter-disciplinary research and design.