This is a subscriber-only article
Farmers could be moving cattle from the hill to the yard on their smartphones in the coming years via new technology.
The potential of virtual fencing, pitched as the next big technology for livestock and hill farmers in Scotland, is currently being trialled by a dozen hill farmers there.
Up to 100 suckler cows will be involved in the trial. The farmer group has been set up by SAC Consulting, part of Scotland’s Rural College (SRUC), with the support of Rural Innovation Support Service (RISS) funding.
Virtual fencing, which has been extensively researched by SRUC, is a way of managing herd movement through collars and online software more effectively than with physical fencing.
Future of hill grazing
The head of SRUC's hill and mountain and beef research centres Dr Tony Waterhouse told the Irish Farmers Journal that he thinks virtual fencing will be part of the future of hill grazing.
“Four companies around the world are working on it. There’s a serious effort going in to bring this to market,” he said, adding that there is nothing wrong with regular wire fencing, that this technology will allow farmers to do thing they couldn’t do before.
The closest to market are companies called NoFence in Norway and e-shepherd in Australia and New Zealand, with others under development.
“You can programme the system to bring them from the hill to the yard over three days. Moving the fence saves time and effort,” he said.
How does it work?
The technology involves a combination of GPS collars, cloud computing and online software to control where livestock graze.
A boundary is ‘drawn’ on the farmer’s smartphone and when the animal approaches that boundary the GPS collar gives audio-warning stimuli, followed by a mild electric pulse if the animal continues.
Dr Waterhouse said that the pulse is significantly less than if a cow was to hit off an electric fence.
“Animals adapt quick. If two go over the fence, the system will kick in for a lasso effect, a moving line brings them back in,” he said.
The technology has been trialled principally on cows in New Zealand, Australia and Norway so far, but not yet in a large-scale commercial hill herd in the UK.
Early stages
Malcolm MacDonald of SAC Consulting, who is co-ordinating the trial group of five Highland and island hill farmers and crofters, said: “A lot of research has been undertaken into virtual fencing over the last 20 years, but it has yet to be proved in commercial use.
“It is in the early stages of adoption in places like New Zealand and Norway and it makes total sense for making extensive hill grazing in Scotland easier to manage.
"It saves time and labour, can protect environmentally sensitive areas and improves herd management, as farmers can monitor their stock from their smartphone or tablet.
“What we want to discover through the trial group is if it’s a practical, affordable solution for hill farmers and crofters in the UK,” he said.
Extensive areas
Virtual fencing will make it more practical for hill farmers to manage extensive areas and for crofters to manage common grazing, according to the SRUC.
It also offers a less time- and labour-intensive means of virtual paddock-grazing or gathering stock with a slowly moving virtual fence-line.
“If there is an appetite for this technology, our farmers as a group – and others interested - will have greater buying power to make it a more affordable solution for their businesses,” said Mr MacDonald.
The group will initially be trialling collars from the spring, with hopes of early results come the autumn.
If these trials show potential, SAC Consulting will be applying for further funding to support greater research of virtual fencing technology in practical situations.
SHARING OPTIONS: