The California Rangeland Trust recognizes that conserving rangeland in perpetuity is only half the battle. The other half is making sure that California ranchers have access to the best tools to continue the stewardship they are known for. This webinar involved presentations from representatives of four major virtual fence companies available in the US, followed by a cost-comparison chart of the options. There is no one-size-fits-all approach to virtual fence, and like anything in ranching, every ranch and operation is different. I took some simple notes of each presentation to show you as best as possible the clear, concise differences between the companies. Funding is available through the NRCS. Both the EQIP and CSP programs offer funding, EQIP tends to be more flexible.
Vence
- Requires a base station
- $10,000 one time cost
- 3 year warranty
- Solar powered
- Cellular backhaul, uses LORA to communicate with collars
- Can be trailer mounted, best placed on ridge top (or area best cell service)
- $40/year/collar subscription fee (includes warranty)
- $10/battery (for each collar)
- Last 6-18 months (single use)
- More intensive grazing = shorter battery life
- Collars can still manage animals with no cell service, just will not send gps location back without it
No Fence
- No base station
- System is 100% cellular based
- No contracts
- $349/Collar (5-24 collars)
- + subscription fee of $45/year/collar (after first year), or $6.50/month(better option if using seasonally)
- $309/Collar (25-99 collars)
- Same annual fees as above
- Over 100+ collars (call for pricing)
- Subscription fee drops to $35/year/collar, or $4.50/month/collar
- 5 year warranty (normal use breakage=free replacement)
- Also offer a “5 year lease-to-own model (Cattle collars only)
- $85/collar/year, includes collar and subscription
- After 5 years you just pay subscription as mentioned above
Gallagher- E-shepherd
- Base station optional
- Good cell service, no base station needed
- Poor cell service, use base station
- $5000/station
- LORA
- Collars are purchased outright
- solar powered, no battery changing
- Don’t pay when not using
- 3 year warranty
- Fit all stock classes
- $300/collar (20-59 collars)
- $2/collar/month subscription
- $250/collar (60+ collars
- $1.50/collar/month subscription
Halter
- No base station
- 100 head minimum
- Solar powered collars
- no battery changing
- Collars communicate with both satellite and cellular automatically switching between the two when necessary
- Lifetime warranty
- Send back up collars when you purchase
- Collars owned outright
- $96/head/year =subscription to the software and app (phone and/or computer)
- 3 year contract
- Billed annually