Beef producers are only limited by their imaginations when it comes to the potential benefits of technology that uses virtual rather than physical fences to control cattle, says a scientist.
It is based on collars that give electric shocks to livestock if they try to stray outside digital boundaries established by producers via a mobile app, said Carolyn Fitzsimmons, an assistant professor at the University of Alberta.
The devices should not be used to replace physical perimeter fencing, which will likely continue to be necessary to maintain the security of cattle and ensure public safety, said masters student Alex Harland.
However, she is studying whether virtual fences could be used to move cattle from place to place within fields for rotational grazing, minimizing or even eliminating the need for physical labour by producers. Fitzsimmons said other potential uses range from rounding up cattle for weaning to keeping them out of riparian areas.
“And then ultimately, I think once this technology gets out and it starts to be used by the general population, producers will start to think of many different things and many different ways that they can use virtual fencing technology to help them in their operations, so really it’s just limited by the producer’s imagination.”
Both Fitzsimmons and Harland spoke as part of a recent panel discussion on virtual cattle fencing at the AgSmart expo at Olds College in Alberta. Scientists at the university and college have been separately studying technology developed by Nofence.
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