AB - Riverview Ranch

Riverview_Demo_Info_Sheet_-_AB

About the Location

The demonstration site is located just north of Bow Island, Alberta, on recently acquired ranchland characterized by native prairie grasslands, coulees, and the Bow River. Additionally, there was no interior fencing, so cattle would freely graze across all 3000 acres. 

The region is moisture-limited, with average annual precipitation over the last decade of approximately 270 millimetres, making forage conservation and efficient pasture utilization a critical management priority for the operation.

About the Farm

Riverview Ranch is a multi-generation cattle operation with more than 100 years of ranching history. The operation currently manages approximately 320 Red Angus cow-calk pairs and expanded in 2025 with the purchase of the Bow Island ranch, which added an additional 120 cow-calf pairs of mixed breeds.

The ranch takes a very hands-off approach, with late calving in the pasture and everything kept as natural as possible. The adoption of new grazing management tools is part of a plan to better track the animals and their grazing habits, enabling more efficient use of the available grass.

Land Characteristics

The property ranges over approximately 7,000 acres of predominately native grassland. The area has several wetlands which are home to a number of amphibians and birds. Pronghorn and American white pelican, bank swallow and sharp-tailed grouse are among the many species located on the property and which are classified as sensitive in Alberta.

A wildlife study identified the potential for 29 bird species, three reptile, two amphibian and three mammal species. Additionally, studies have shown 23 fish species potentially live in the area. 

The land profile include both regosolic and chernozemic well drained soils. 

Why Virtual Fencing

Virtual fencing will help protect sensitive areas and species as well as protect the cattle from areas where there may be hazards such as areas with cliff faces, long coulees and valleys.

The Riverview Ranch touches 11 kilometers of the southern bank of the Old Man River including where it meets with the Bow River and becomes the South Saskatchewan River. This area of the river is a sturgeon-spawning ground and home to other endangered species both in and out of the river.

The property also features multiple wetlands which need to be protected from the cattle. To fence all these areas and to maintain them is simply not feasible.

Additionally, given the size and geography of the property, wild animals can break or get caught on fences. Broken fences can lead to cattle escaping and maintaining that amount of fencing is a constant job with fences being replaced every five to eight years.

Utilizing the eShepherd will allow for more efficient grazing for the best grassland health. With 7,000 acres, each pasture is too big to use all the grass evenly which causes more frequent pasture rotation. This doesn’t allow for proper growth and maintenance.

The virtual fence will resolve all these concerns by protecting sensitive water areas, putting in off-site watering while keeping cows away from other water sources and using the land in a much healthier and sustainable way.

Map showing Riverview Ranch with current fence lines HERE. 

Learning about Rotational Grazing

The producers at Riverview Ranch learned about virtual fencing through conferences and online research. Upon hearing about the funding opportunities, they felt like it was a good time to give it a try.   

The main challenge they faced that led to this decision was large pastures with no internal fencing, which would have been extremely time-consuming and expensive to install. Additionally, due to the river cliffs and coulees, many areas were not feasible for building fences. Another challenge was that the new pasture was a 45 min drive from the home ranch, so checking on the animals and implementing rotational grazing were again not feasible. Lastly, by adopting better rotational grazing practices, there was potential to increase herd size and use the available grass more effectively. This made the collars very interesting to try.

The Rotational Grazing Objectives

The primary objective of this project is to demonstrate how virtual fencing can be used to implement an intensive rotational grazing system that improves forage utilization, limits the need to build and maintain fences in unsuitable terrain, and enables data collection and herd management at a distance. 

In the short term, the goal was to successfully train cattle to respect virtual boundaries and to establish reliable, frequent livestock movements that prevent overgrazing and uneven pasture use. 

Over the long term, the project aims to increase the number of grazing days per acre, improve regrowth consistency, and use animal movement data to refine pasture management decisions. Riverview Ranch intends to use virtual fencing as a core management tool across multiple ranch locations to improve pasture resilience and support adaptive grazing strategies in low-moisture environments.

The project uses GPS-enabled eShepherd collars manufactured by Gallagher to create digital paddocks that can be adjusted in real time using a mobile application. Cattle are trained through a learning process in which an audio cue is followed by a mild pulse if the animal continues toward the virtual boundary. Over time, animals learn to respond to the audio cue alone and avoid crossing the digital fence line. 

The system uses either cellular or radio connectivity, depending on location and signal availability, and relies on base stations for radio communication. Riverview Ranch chose the radio system in Bow Island because cell service was very limited in the river valley. The project received funding support through the CFGA On-Farm Climate Action Fund, which covered approximately 70 percent of the program costs.

Baseline Grazing Conditions

Prior to the project, grazing on the Bow Island ranch relied on large pasture units with infrequent livestock movement and limited control over grazing pressure in specific areas. Livestock distribution was uneven, and detailed data on animal movement or grazing pressure were not available. Additionally, as this was their first time with this piece of land and this herd, there was very limited hands-on experience with the conditions or animal tendencies. 

Key Insights from 2025 

During the 2025 grazing season, the project demonstrated that virtual fencing can successfully contain livestock once animals complete the learning phase. There was a lot of learning, especially in paddock design and keeping lines straight and simple, so as not to confuse the animals. Additionally, there was a learning curve in putting the collars on, adjusting the collar sizes, and getting all the information into the software, but all of this went fairly smoothly, and they adapted quickly. They found that a couple of animals had the collars rub aggressively and cause bleeding, but this was only on 2 or 3 animals, and it could have been due to user error. 

Things they learned included animal behaviour, including preferred drinking areas along streams and the river, main grazing areas, and being notified right away when there were issues with the animals or their collars.  

What Changes Are Planned for the Future 

For the 2026 grazing season, Riverview Ranch plans to increase the number of collared animals, specifically at their Grassy Lake ranch. Additionally, they want to implement more formal soil and pasture monitoring protocols to better quantify environmental impacts. 

Beyond 2026, Riverview Ranch intends to operate virtual fencing as a permanent component of its grazing management system, collaborate with other producers and research organizations, and continue participating in CFGA demonstration and knowledge-transfer initiatives.

Funding for this project in part has been provided by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada through the Agricultural Climate Solutions – On-Farm Climate Action Fund.