East Kootenay ranchers testing virtual fencing on Crown range
Cattle wearing virtual-fencing collars are featured in promotional material for a Sept. 17 demonstration at Thibeault Ranch in Cranbrook. Thibeault Ranch and JRJ Black Angus are testing the technology on Crown range in the East Kootenays this season.
Photo: Kootenay & Boundary Farm Advisors
A Sept. 17 field day at Thibeault Ranch will give producers a look at virtual fence technology being tested under East Kootenay grazing conditions.
Two East Kootenay ranch operations are testing virtual fencing on Crown range this season, with producers and others interested in the technology invited to see the system in use during a field day near Cranbrook next week.
Thibeault Ranch and JRJ Black Angus are in their first season of trialling virtual fence technology for cattle ranching on Crown range as part of the Virtual Fence Demonstration Project. The free field day will be held Thursday, Sept. 17, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Thibeault Ranch in Cranbrook.
The demonstration is being co-hosted by the Kootenay Livestock Association, the Grassland and Rangeland Enhancement Program and Kootenay & Boundary Farm Advisors. Participants will be able to see the collars in action and discuss the advantages, limitations and troubleshooting involved in using the technology in a working ranch operation.
The project is intended to document practical experiences with virtual fencing in the region, including its opportunities, challenges, risks and uncertainties. Organizers say a factsheet based on the project outcomes will be produced for ranchers in 2027.
Virtual-fencing work involving Thibeault Ranch dates back to at least 2020. Columbia Basin Trust documented a targeted-grazing project on Crown land bordering Cranbrook that used cattle to reduce grass that can fuel wildfires. The project had planned to use virtual fencing, but technology sourced from Norway depended on a European 2G cellular network that could not operate locally, and electric fencing was used instead.
In 2021, the B.C. government awarded the BC Cattlemen’s Association a $350,000 Agritech grant to develop wearable technology capable of managing and tracking cattle both inside and outside cellular coverage using cellular and satellite infrastructure.
The Canadian Roundtable for Sustainable Beef reported that the first phase of that project called for the development and deployment of 15 prototype collars for testing with Thibeault Ranch. The project also involved Calgary-based A4 Systems, Kamloops-based Two Story Robot and TELUS, with the University of British Columbia’s Animal Welfare Program involved in considering the technology’s effects on cattle.
The BC Cattlemen’s Association sought additional provincial funding in 2023 to modify the prototype and produce enough collars for more extensive real-world testing. By its 2024 annual meeting, the association reported that its virtual-fencing project had reached the third version of the prototype design.
Kootenay & Boundary Farm Advisors’ material for the current demonstration does not identify the manufacturer or model of the collars being used this season, nor does it state that they are the same system developed through the earlier BC Cattlemen’s Association project. The earlier work and the 2026 demonstration therefore should not be treated as a continuous test of the same technology.
The current project is focused on the practical use of virtual fencing on East Kootenay Crown range, including how cattle respond to the system, collar installation and training, paddock design, livestock traceability and the performance of cell-based infrastructure.
Funding for the demonstration and learning project comes in part through the Sustainable Canadian Agricultural Partnership, a federal-provincial-territorial program. The virtual fence infrastructure was funded through the Climate Agri-Solutions Fund, which receives funding from Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada through the Agricultural Climate Solutions — On-Farm Climate Action Fund.
The Kootenay Livestock Association project has also received contributions from the B.C. Ministry of Agriculture and Food and the Grassland and Rangeland Enhancement Program, which is supported by Columbia Basin Trust and the B.C. Ministry of Forests.
Registration for the Sept. 17 field day is available through Kootenay & Boundary Farm Advisors. Refreshments will be provided following the demonstration.
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