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Farmers trade fences for GPS tracking collars

Phil Mercerin Chipping Norton
News imageBBC Brown cow with horns chewing straw in a grassy field. Another brown cow is in the background with its head facing away from the camera. It's looking down at a small pile of straw in the grass BBC
The satellite tracking collars are being used on cattle at Lyneham Heath Farm, near Chipping Norton

New technology is being used by farmers in Oxfordshire for the first time to control livestock without putting up fences.

Sam Sandberg uses satellite tracking collars on her cattle, at Lyneham Heath Farm near Chipping Norton, and said they increased the amount of land that could be grazed.

The animals wear battery-operated devices that play specially created sounds, then emit an electrical pulse, if they stray across a virtual boundary.

Now a nearby farmer is about to become the first in the area to use the collars with sheep.

The collar first emits an increasing, low-pitched sound, followed by a pulse similar to that used in electric fencing.

A government report in 2022 found virtual fencing systems had several potential welfare advantages over conventional electric fencing, but they are still not widely used.

The collars emit a low-pitched sound, followed by an electronic pulse

Sandberg said the collars enabled her cows to graze areas that would difficult or too expensive to fence.

"Not only can you strip graze within a field, but you always know where your cattle are, you can graze these little pockets that just wouldn't be worth you grazing otherwise," she said.

"If it takes off others will come along and then the competition will bring the price down."

News imageWoman in a green coat and white woolly hat standing behind a large brown cow with horns. It's wearing a chain collar with a black box suspended beneath its chin. There is another cow in the background looking at the camera.
The collars mean Sam Sandberg can graze more of the farm

Her experience has already inspired neighbouring sheep farmer Matthew Izod.

"It's a great option for fencing areas that we can't access with a vehicle," he said.

"Electric fencing blocks access for people using the countryside and these collars would give us the option to fence those off without an actual fence being there."

News imageHand holding a phone showing a lot of white dots in clusters across the screen. The background is a green satellite image of the field.
A phone app shows the daily movement of the animals

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