Livestock farmers curious about virtual fencing technology will have the opportunity to learn about the Nofence system at the company’s stand at AgriScot, due to be held on the 9th of February, 2022 at the Royal Highland Centre in Edinburgh.
Developed in Norway and now operating on UK farms for more than three years, Nofence uses a combination of GPS, cellular communication and audio signals to work with animal behaviour to create a virtual fence perimeter that can be monitored and changed via a smartphone app.
Suitable for upland and intensive grazing, the Nofence app allows farmers to set virtual pasture boundaries by picking up GPS surveying from available satellites. Livestock wearing Nofence collars can be turned out on the set area to graze with no physical fencing. When an animal crosses the boundary, a three-stage audio warning will start, followed by an electric pulse if the animal does not turn around.
When the collar issues a pulse, it sends a pop-up notification to the farmer via the Nofence app, including the location of the animal. If the animal continues to move in the wrong direction, it will receive a maximum of three pulses before being classed as escaped. Again the farmer is notified and the location of the animal is tracked.
According to Synne Foss Budal, general manager for Nofence UK, the technological game-changer has proven successful in shifting cattle and sheep grazing behaviour to rely on their sense of hearing rather than sight. Data collected by Nofence through observations of herd behaviour on more than 30,000 head of livestock logging more than 129 million grazing hours has found the typical farm to have one pulse per every 30 audio cues.
“Nofence grazing technology has already opened up a lot of opportunities for UK livestock producers, especially those wanting to better manage upland grazing where the lack of physical fencing has previously been challenging,” said Miss Budal. “Features within the Nofence app, such as being able to track an individual animal’s location and change virtual fencing parameters within a matter of seconds is also hugely beneficial to both upland and lowland systems.”
For more information go to www.nofence.co.uk