In the wake of the largest wildfire in Texas history, a team of researchers at Texas Tech’s Department of Natural Resources Management has launched a multiyear study to determine whether virtual fencing – GPS-enabled collars that guide livestock without traditional barriers – can offer a practical and economical alternative for ranchers facing the enormous cost of rebuilding after fire.
‘In this scenario, virtual fencing offers a more economically viable option than conventional physical fencing. The technology also provides additional benefits, including improved grazing management, reduced habitat fragmentation and better remote livestock monitoring.’
The project, “Virtual Fencing: An Alternative to Fencing Infrastructure Post-fire,” is supported by a $499,351 award from the National Fish & Wildlife Foundation, one of the nation’s largest private conservation organizations. The initiative is under the direction of Davis College assistant professors Aaron Norris and Caitlyn Cooper-Norris, along with associate professor Nathan Gill and associate professor Carlos Villalobos.
Virtual fencing relies on livestock collars equipped with GPS technology. When an animal approaches a programmed boundary, the collar emits an auditory cue; if the boundary is crossed, the animal receives a mild, harmless shock. The system, long discussed in rangeland circles, is drawing new attention as wildfire frequency and intensity rise across the Texas High Plains.
The Smokehouse Creek Wildfire, which tore through the region in February 2024, burned more than one million acres, approximately 1,650 square miles, and left ranchers grappling with extraordinary losses. For many operations, decades of cross fencing were reduced to ash in a matter of hours. Replacing that infrastructure, Norris said, is expensive and increasingly impractical in a landscape where severe fires have become more common.
“In this scenario, virtual fencing offers a more economically viable option than conventional physical fencing,” Norris said. “The technology also provides additional benefits, including improved grazing management, reduced habitat fragmentation, better remote livestock monitoring, and more strategic vegetation management.”
One of the ranches hit hardest by the Smokehouse Creek Fire was Cowden Land & Livestock, a multigenerational cow–calf operation based in Canadian, Texas. Managed by Craig and Jessica Cowden, fifth- and sixth-generation ranchers, the operation lost 95 percent of its primary ranch to the fires. Internal fences that once shaped grazing rotations were largely destroyed.
‘The goal is to provide ranchers and land managers in the region with firsthand experience. We want to show what virtual fencing can do; not in theory, but on a working ranch recovering from wildfire.’
The devastation spurred a partnership between the Cowden operation and the Texas Tech research team. The collaboration aims to test virtual fencing in a real-world ranching environment. Researchers will observe how cattle respond to the technology, how post-fire vegetation recovers under guided grazing, and how wildlife use the landscape in the absence of traditional fencing. The project will also provide outreach and technical guidance to other producers across the region.
As part of the research effort, the scientific team will monitor the technology’s performance and evaluate its ecological and economic implications. “The goal is to provide ranchers and land managers in the region with firsthand experience,” Cooper-Norris said. “We want to show what virtual fencing can do; not in theory, but on a working ranch recovering from wildfire.”
CONTACT: Richard Stevens, chair and Caesar Kleberg Endowed Professor of Wildlife Conservation, Department of Natural Resources Management, Texas Tech University at (806) 834-6843 or richard.stevens@ttu.edu
0219NM26 | PHOTOS: Craig Cowden (Cowden Land & Livestock)