Virtual fencing

[The Ruminant]

Anyone trialled this or heard of someone who has? I’m involved in a project where it could be useful and would like to see it in action first. Thanks

 

[Chapelton]

Cattle or sheep? The Temple Grandin book I'm reading reckoned sheep were easily able to associate an increasing sound with a subsequent electric shock and could be trained to it without too much trouble. I'll look back as I'm sure it will have referenced the study which showed this.

 

[holwellcourtfarm]

I've been following Agersens and Halter since they announced it. I am not aware of any in the UK at present. If you get to try it I'd love to come and have a look.

 

[Crex]

SAC have looked at it.

And here

 

[AftonShepherd]

I think @JohnGalway had a thread about it, but no idea how far he got

 

[The Ruminant]

Cattle or sheep? The Temple Grandin book I'm reading reckoned sheep were easily able to associate an increasing sound with a subsequent electric shock and could be trained to it without too much trouble. I'll look back as I'm sure it will have referenced the study which showed this.

It’s for cattle grazing common land

 

[holwellcourtfarm]

It’s for cattle grazing common land

Ideal I'd have thought! It'd be great for mustering them again.

 

[Old Spot]

I believe the NT are about to trial it on some common land.
i will let you know how they get on.

 

[Wooly]

Might try it on some footpaths...................... that will stop the ramblers straying from it !!

 

[ShooTa]

id certainly givce it a crack - although didnt we ban the same thing for dogs not that long ago...why is our future food not the same?

 

[Guleesh]

I wonder how far the costs could potentially fall for this? Unfortunately for us I can't see it ever being viable for sheep unless it gets near to 1/10th of current pricing, obviously it'd be way more cost effective for cattle.

 

[JohnGalway]

Anyone trialled this or heard of someone who has? I’m involved in a project where it could be useful and would like to see it in action first. Thanks

I haven't trialled any but...

The only two working models I was interested in (Halter steadfastly refused to reply to my many attempts to contact them) were Agersens eShepherd from Australia and NoFence from Norway.

Agersens eventually gave me a price which had a minimum collar buy of 100 collars at €300 per collar, a base station of €3-8k depending on specs and needs and a couple of other items I forget. On top of that they had a subscription cost which I'd have to go look for.

NoFence have a working commercial collar for goats. They are trialling collars on cattle and sheep, and will be available from 2020 or 2021. There is no minimum collar number. They cost €300/collar also, then they have a scale subscription model that calculates based on how many collars you operate and how many months of the year you use them. There's a FB user forum, be warned it's in Norweigan and Google does it's best Chinglish translation.

I think SRUC are up to something with virtual fencing but I don't know what. I've watched a few others fail in development. There could be something else out there that hasn't come up on my radar.

 

[JohnGalway]

It’s for cattle grazing common land

That's precisely what I wanted it for also.

 

[JohnGalway]

I wonder how far the costs could potentially fall for this? Unfortunately for us I can't see it ever being viable for sheep unless it gets near to 1/10th of current pricing, obviously it'd be way more cost effective for cattle.

Might depend on how one uses sheep. For commercial wool & meat, not a hope. For example, people run goats under power pylons to eat all the young trees that might cause a problem. I don't see it as cost effective for cattle anytime soon either, it does potentially solve a problem in that my commonage has a road running through it, as well as the usual drains and bogholes.

 

[Bury the Trash]

Weve got miles of 'virtual' fencing .... the wire is all there but all the posts have rotted off ...?

 

[Guleesh]

Weve got miles of 'virtual' fencing .... the wire is all there but all the posts have rotted off ...?

Virtual fencing should be virtually stock-proof?

 

[The Ruminant]

Virtual fencing should be virtually stock-proof?

And should keep virtually all of the animals in for virtually all of the time...