The resilience and flexibility of the Routt County Conservation District Board were put to the test this June when the roll out of our virtual fencing program hit an unexpected roadblock.

Just as the boxes of collars were arriving, news came from the provider, Vence. They had discovered a manufacturing error in this year’s new collars. Due to a faulty part, the collars could not properly communicate with the base stations. At first there was hope that a quick fix would be found and we could move forward again, but word soon came from Vence.

Though the problem could be resolved, it would not be in time to collar cows before this year’s grazing season. To say that all involved were frustrated would be an understatement.

It had been a busy year since receiving the Grazing Lands Conservation Initiative grant last fall. We had contracted with a manager for the grant, gone through an extensive selection process, ordered base stations and evaluated sites to place them, among many other details. Small delays had compounded over time and pushed us right to the edge of the deadline of spring turnout onto pastures, which had been a cause of stress to everyone involved. 

And then … deep breath. Whether we liked it or not, it was time to slow down and consider … exactly what is the problem with waiting to roll out until next year? Certainly, the ranchers involved (and those of us on the board) were hoping to have the benefits of virtual fencing this year, but there were also many benefits to slowing the momentum.

The ranchers could put the collars on their cows during normal spring work instead of needing an additional working day. Instead of rushing to place the base stations during the short window between the melting of snow on the high points and turning out on summer range, we could take our time and place them throughout this summer to be ready next spring. The ranchers could also take their time in training the cattle, which makes success with collars much more likely.

A requirement of the grant is that we have a monitoring program to see what effects using the collars will have on range conditions. By waiting we can establish a baseline this year, and have a better chance of seeing changes next year. We are also going to use our time to look into more funding so that we can include other ranchers in the program that we were not able to include this year and look into some alternative virtual fence products that may work better for some of the ranchers who hoped to participate.

“Slow is smooth and smooth is fast,” they say. In the end the real wonder is how we ever thought we could get this all done so quickly before. A special thank you goes out to our new contract employees, Kathryn Bedell and Sharon Clever, who have been beyond flexible in the face of change and vital to us moving forward.

If you think being involved in the messiness of on-the-ground conservation in Routt County is a challenge you would like to face, please check us out at RouttCountyCD.com. We are always looking for new board members to bring their wisdom and energy to the board.

Michael Moon is the ranch manager at the Home Ranch in North Routt and a Board member with the Routt County Conservation District.