Livestock Grazing Management

If you’ve been following our work here at UCCE Central Sierra, you’ll likely know that my colleagues Scott Oneto and Brian Allen have been demonstrating a variety of virtual fencing systems in cattle grazing operations for several years now – with great success! They’ve demonstrated the technology’s…

Johnsongrass (Sorghum halepense L.) is a problematic perennial weed that plagues California orchards and vineyards, spreading through seed production and perennial rhizomes. Established johnsongrass populations are typically controlled through use of systemic post-emergent herbicides (typically glyphosate…

On California’s Central Coast, where grassland and oak savannas stretch across rugged rangelands, one ranching operation is helping redefine what it means to steward the land. Founded in the early 1880s, the T.O. Cattle Company has weathered generations of California ranching history. In 1991, Joe and Julie…

Virtual Fence Cost May Be Offset with NRCS EQIP Funds Virtual Fencing (VF) is a livestock management tool that uses GPS collars to track livestock and guide their movements with audio and electric pulse cues. Instead of building a physical fence, users can draw a virtual boundary on a computer or mobile…

Emerging Precision Agriculture Tool Improves Grazing Systems  For the past four years, UC researchers have been examining the usefulness of virtual fence (VF) technology on a multitude of landscapes across the Sierra Nevada. Virtual fencing is an emerging precision agriculture tool capable of improving…