Eamon O'Toole & Meghan Lally
Ladder Ranch
Wildlife & Conservation
Ladder Ranch is uniquely positioned at the intersection of some important wildlife habitats and migration pathways in southern Wyoming.
Social
https://open.spotify.com/show/2k8puMHjnPnseHLiZFwoFK
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/running-on-grass/id1892100817
Goals
Many measurable outcomes have been identified as a result of this project including, but not limited to, improved streambank stability and riparian areas, improved forage utilization, reductions in need for physical fencing and opportunities to strategically remove existing fence lines, and increased operational resilience in the face of weather variability, drought, wildfire risk, and other environmental
challenges.
Ranch
Eamon O'Toole and Meghan Lally, Ladder Livestock Company, operate out of south-central Wyoming with 1950 head of cattle enrolled in the Virtual Fence Conservation Partnership spanning a combined 149,200 acres of deeded, state, leased, BLM, and USFS land. Their operation utilizes desert landscapes for calving in the spring and follows higher elevation country in the summer. Ladder Ranch has managed livestock for many generations with a history of complementing wildlife movement, sagebrush ecosystem health, and long-term rangeland resilience. Eamon O'Toole currently co-hosts a podcast called "Running on Grass" about grass management and on-the-ground ranch experience. The ranch will utilize virtual fencing as a tool for continued stewardship, through managing cattle distribution more precisely, reducing fencing impacts, protecting sensitive habitats, and better supporting migrating wildlife – especially mule deer and pronghorn.
Project Collaborators
Partnership Journal
Partner since April 2026 · 2 entries
April 16, 2026
RCF and PERC visited the Ladder Ranch on April 14, 2026. This site visit was conducted to support the development of a conservation monitoring plan for Megan Lally and Eamon O’Toole, who already participate in conservation efforts and cooperative monitoring in collaboration with the University of WY, Kateri Carbon (Cultivo), NRCS, Little Snake River Conservation District, WY Game and Fish, the United’s States Forest Service, and the Bureau of Land Management. During the visit, we toured the home property which included hay pastures, alfalfa fields, and riparian areas. Throughout the day, we discussed several possible options for accomplishing conservation and operational goals through the use of virtual fence (VF).
July 20, 2026
The Ladder Ranch hosted a virtual fence field day on Monday, July 20th to showcase their grazing management strategies and the benefits of the virtual fence system. In attendance were neighboring producers, representatives from NRCS, Understanding Ag, Little Snake River Conservation District (LSRCD), and Halter, and students interning at the ranch from the University of Wyoming. We discussed utilization data the students have been collecting over the summer, how day-to-day ranch life has changed, opportunities and future directions with virtual fence, and conservation/production goals. Lastly, we took a look at the high intensity short duration grazing system that the ranch has implemented with the virtual fence system. The cattle are moved to a new pasture on about a daily basis, depending on the pasture size.