DILLON — The traditional gate and fence have been used to corral cows for over a century, but now one ranch family is using new technology to keep an eye on their cows.
Watch here ranchers implement technology to track their cattle:
As cattle move single file through a chute, rancher Tell Holland and range rider Jamie Lode give the cattle medicine and fit big collars around their necks.
It's a dirty job and the cows don't like the new collars. The bounce out of the chute dramatically, spraying slobber on the workers as they try to shake off the collars.
The Holland family runs thousands of cattle through remote public lands in and around the Beaverhead National Forest located near Dillon. They say the new technology may prove to be a valuable tool, especially in dangerous situations like the wildfires that threatened their herd over the summer.
"It was terrifying, I had some talks with myself like... don’t panic, don’t painc!" said Jamie Lode. "It was not fun. It was stressful. Very stressful."
For the past five years, Lode has been a range rider for the Holland Family. She stays with a herd of about 500 mother cows that are accompanied by their babies and some bulls.
In late June, with a foot of snow on the ground, she and others brought the catttle to a grazing allotment located in the Pioneer Mountains about an hour and a half from the family ranch.
Forty days later, Lode and the herd were sandwiched between the Sand Creek and Bobcat Lakes fires.
"It was crazy, June 29—30, we trailed up there in a foot of snow, and Aug. 8 we’re coming out because of fire, and you just can’t control what happens. You gotta do what you gotta do," said Tell Holland.
Holland is a fourth-generation rancher. After graduating recently and obtaining a welding certificate, he returned home to work full-time for the family business.
The wildfires cut the grazing period short.
"It took a full two weeks to find them all. Fortunately, we did find ‘em all. We didn’t lose anything," said Mandy Holland.
With help from area ranchers, range riders, and cowboys, over a thousand animals were rounded up safely. Now, Holland cattle are being fitted with virtual fence collars designed by a company from New Zealand.
"With these virtual fence collars, you’ll know their location right now, and you open up an app. You look. It tells you where they’re at," said Mandy Holland.
The virtual fence system works through satellite communication. Cellular coverage and Wi-Fi does not exist in the area where the Holland cattle were grazing over the summer. The Hollands relied on tips from firefighters and helicopter pilots to locate cows. The virtual fence system could've helped streamline the process of finding and rounding up the cattle.
"We wouldn’t of had to wait maybe an extra week or two to find that out through people. We would’ve just looked at our phones and seen it," says Kenny Holland.
"We could’ve gathered them up and started moving them using the collars and then paused it and heard them out by the time we got to them, which would’ve been extremely helpful," said Mandy.
Mandy says she’s heard grumblings about how the virtual fence collars may bring about an end to the cowboy’s way of life. But for Tell, who will one day run the ranch with his sister and cousin, the technology is not a threat. It's just another tool.
"I think more than anything, it’s going to benefit us. It’s going to make us be able to use our fields more wisely and get better grazing management on em."
The Holland Family is fitting 1,750 mother cows with collars thanks to funding from USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service grants.
