Traditional versus Tech: Teaching cattle to self-herd
A US company is hoping a smartphone app it has developed will eliminate the need for fences to control the movement of stock such as sheep and cattle.
Vence, a California-based startup, is hoping it will bring grazing into a truly digital age.
The device and software Vence has developed claims to allow farmers to remotely control the behaviour of their stock.
Vence makes a collar that can be put on the necks of cattle, sheep or goats, and its inbuilt GPS and magnetometer sets off a buzzing noise if the animal goes somewhere it shouldn’t.
If it doesn’t get the message and strays further away from its denoted area, it receives a shock.
Like Pavlov’s dogs, the grazing animals are meant to get the message over time that when they hear a buzz, they move until the buzzing stops, and if they don’t follow the directions, they’ll receive electric shocks until they do.
For their time and trouble, Vence is planning to charge between US$15 and US$25 per animal each year.
The new technology is expected to raise an uproar from animal rights organisations, as well as resistance from many people involved in the industry.
Narromine grazier Bruce Maynard has spent years working on new methods to improve all aspects of his farm, including soil and animal health and behaviour. He says there are other, and better, ways to control animal movements.
He’s been working on a national project to teach cattle to self-herd.
“Overall I am not negative on the concept and practice of this sort of technology,” Mr Maynard said.
“What it misses is the very nature of individuality in the herd as it forces the animals across the landscape.
“Self-herding is on a completely different road – we get animals to behave by choice rather than force and that allows for a whole field of new and exciting possibilities that technology alone will not be able to address,” he said.
Mr Maynard says Self-herding puts the power, responsibility and gains back in the hands of individual farmers, rather than relying on computer-generated orders.