Virtual Fencing Grants Seek To Bolster Wildlife Corridors

May 06, 2026

By Jenna McMurtry

Move over barbed wire and electric fences. A “friendlier fence” to wildlife is gaining footing in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem.

For the second year in a row, the Bozeman-based think tank Property and Environment Research Center has awarded grants to ranches in the region to make virtual fences more accessible.

“It allows a farmer or a rancher to better and more precisely manage their livestock without the need for physical fences on the landscape,” said Travis Bramer, the organization’s director of conservation.

Across Wyoming and Idaho, eight ranches have received grants to purchase and maintain the costly equipment that’s altering the ranching industry. This year, Bramer’s nonprofit partnered with the Ricketts Conservation Foundation, which contributed a third of the $600,000 fund.

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Video: Learning to Wrench From Dad the Hard Way

Harvest is a week out and the farm picked this week to fall apart. The truck needs a battery, the barn curtain's got a problem, and the corn and beans are telling us we're out of time to get it all fixed.

So it's a full day of wrenching. Tork supervises while I get the truck back running, then we're out at the hog barn where one rusted up part has the whole curtain system hung up. Ladder work, cable work, and a little dad-and-son disagreement about the right way to do it. We close it out walking the fields, shelling beans and checking corn, because whether everything's fixed or not, harvest starts when harvest starts.

Chapters: 00:00 Everything breaks the week before harvest 01:00 Tork supervises while I fix the truck 12:30 Out to the barn to find the curtain problem 14:30 One rusty part hung up the whole curtain 20:00 Running the curtain cable from the ladder 24:00 Walking the beans and corn before harvest 26:30 Wrapping up

We're a 6th generation family farm in southeast Iowa showing the real ups and downs of pig farming and row crop farming. No script, just the work. Subscribe and follow along.

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