More Colorado ranchers are using satellite technology to manage their livestock across vast, rugged landscapes — without having to put up miles of physical fence.  

Virtual fencing uses GPS-enabled collars to allow ranchers to guide their cattle and keep them within invisible boundaries, using a mobile phone or computer.  

Ranchers who use virtual fencing say it’s relatively cheap and helps them keep tabs on their herds. And it may help ranchers coexist with wolves and other predators. 

So, are ranch hands – and fence posts – endangered in the West? 

Tracy Ross of The Colorado Sun interviewed several ranchers about the technology. She talked with Erin O’Toole about how virtual fencing works and why it appeals to ranchers.

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Host and Producer: Erin O'Toole
Executive Producer: Brad Turner
 
Theme music by Robbie Reverb
Additional music by Blue Dot Sessions
In The NoCo is a production of KUNC News and Community Radio for Northern Colorado.