Virtual cattle fencing now available to Ontario beef producers

Ontario beef producers now have access to a new high-tech cattle monitoring and remote management tool that could revolutionize cattle-based rotational grazing.

Tim Prior, Brussels Agri Services Ltd. owner and a licensed Gallagher dealer, unveiled eShepherd’s North American availability at the Beef Farmers of Ontario(BFO) annual general meeting in Toronto on Feb. 21.

eShepherd is a real-time data-driven tool providing beef producers maximum agility for management and animal welfare decisions.

Prior told Farmtario the response to the system has been “incredible.”

Designed for cattle 200 kilograms or more the circular, wearable solar-powered GPS-style system allows producers to track, monitor, and fence animals from any smartphone, tablet, or computer with a touch of a button.

“I love technology. I love what it can do,” Prior said. “(I love having) the flexibility of being somewhere else and looking at your cattle, count the dots on my computer, and see they’re all contained.”

For example, in a 40-acre, traditionally fenced pasture, a producer could set rotational grazing perimeters and create even smaller cells.

Equally important, said Prior, is that eShepherd’s agile software provides instant and cost-effective fencing to remove cattle from natural disasters, migrating predator pathways, and ecologically sensitive areas like waterways, native habitats, and woodlots.

There are no labour, expensive materials, or time constraints in making up-to-the-minute alterations to fencing with the agility of eShepherd, he said.

The software monitors and maintains each cow’s roaming, grazing, walking, and resting behaviour history, providing 24/7 metrics and data for better-informed management decisions.

“Say you haven’t been out to the pasture for a bit, but you’re following in on your device,” Prior said. “You see a cow laying off in the corner and think, gee, it was there in the morning, and it’s still there at noon. Maybe you better go check.”

Prior said for example, if a cow manages to break the virtual perimeter because of a predator, fit won’t impact the other cows. The producer can craft a virtual boundary and alleyway leading the wayward animal back to the herd.

Training cattle to the new system requires five to seven encounters with the virtual fence, which could happen in 48 hours or up to a week, depending on mob size.

Designed for use within traditionally fenced lands, and not as a main containment boundary, the device emits an audio cue as cows approach the virtual fence and, if ignored, an aversive but harmless pulse. 

With Ontario’s Agri Tech Innovation Initiative providing up to 50 per cent cost sharing for projects of $100,000 or less now taking submissions, the launch couldn’t be better for early adopters.

“This product exemplifies the program to a tee as far as innovation technology,” explained Prior.

“It helps pay for the units, and (while) I want to sell the units on their virtues (the program) gives (early adopters) a little boost to get started.”

The units will retail for $350 per cow with a $2.75 a month/per cow subscription fee required only when the collars are in use. For some producers, that may be a year-round investment, but Prior suspects most won’t utilize the collars during the winter.

During Prior’s upcoming annual producer pasture walk and talk on June 5, 2024, he plans to demonstrate eShepherd’s prowess with his cattle.

“The idea is to have 20 cows on one side of the lane with a conventional fence. I’m going to wind up on my portable fence on the other side of the lane,” he explained. “I hope to (have) another 20 cows with have collars on that there is no fence, but they will be contained (virtually).”

For more information on the pasture walk and talk, please e-mail: [email protected].