Conservancy partners with Guidestone on the AgriSummit

By Heather Mills, Agriculture Program Manager

Central Colorado Conservancy partnered with Guidestone in the planning process for the 2025 AgriSummit. Beginning in November of last year, I served on the Speaker Committee for the conference and worked with others on the committee to secure the keynote speaker, Fred Provenza, as well as Ranch Track speakers Bill Parker of Parker Pastures and Mercedes Rodriguez from the Taos Economic Development Corp. I also organized and participated on a virtual fence panel consisting of local agency representatives and agricultural producers currently using the technology.

The one-day conference was held on March 7th at the Salida SteamPlant and saw an excellent turnout utilizing every square inch of space for sponsors, vendors and rooms for sessions. Mercedes Rodriguez presented on the project underway in Taos to complete a mobile processing unit for producers to access a local means of processing livestock. She spoke about the trials and successes of the project thus far as well as the ultimate positive economic impact this service will have in the ranching community. Bill Parker gave an inspiring talk about connecting to the land through ourselves and animals. As a producer who has used entirely leased grazing lands without a significant homebase ranch over the years, he described the enormous benefit virtual fencing has offered him in rotating his herd without having to put in the time and money to build permanent fence structures. Although these leased grazing lands provide vital forage for his livestock, Parker doesn’t actually own the land. This is a creative model for a livestock operation. In Fred Provenza’s keynote, he lamented about his younger years working on a ranch in Salida, his teachings and food research, followed by a session about a human’s connection to the food we eat.

The Virtual Fence panel discussion included Angela Safranik, U.S. Forest Service, Brady Everett and Brice Lewis, local producers using the VENCE technology in Chaffee County, and myself in my role as the Agriculture Program Manager for Central Colorado Conservancy. Natalie Allio, Director with the National Grazing Lands Coalition, facilitated a conversation about the history of the virtual fence pilot project, the challenges the producers faced in learning the technology, and what they’ve seen as benefits to their operations. Angela showed a video of virtual fencing in action with a cow wearing a collar outfitted to communicate with radio towers that transmit information about the virtual fence boundary.  The cow encounters the virtual fence boundary, hears a beeping noise, and suddenly turns around and heads the opposite direction.

Brady Everett told a story of the day he and his daughter spent hours riding looking for a stray cow until he realized he could ride to the top of a hill and look at his VENCE app on his phone to locate the cow. Brice Lewis remarked how his operation has become more predictable as the older cows teach the younger cows leading by example to respect the auditory cues of the collars. He and his wife, Kate, keep their herd on leased grazing year-round which is a long way from the home ranch. Being able to look at his laptop or phone to determine where all his cows are saves many a trip to the mountain.