Planning new infrastructure for the new year: Virtual fencing

Virtual fencing is a relatively new farming option in the Northeast, but it’s very effective and reduces labor when moving animals between pastures. Virtual fencing is a way to create boundaries in a pasture without putting up a physical fence. This technology allows farmers to create digital boundaries of their choice and contain their animals within using GPS-connected collars.

There are a wide variety of virtual fencing brands available, one of which is Nofence. Nofence currently offers virtual fencing collars for cattle, goats and sheep. They created a user-friendly app that support advisor Emma Baker believes is “one of [Nofence’s] best features.”

Through the app, users can activate their livestock collars, track each animal, adjust pasture boundaries and more.

When using the Nofence system, if any collared animal approaches the virtual boundary, “they’re going to hear an audio warning first,” explained Baker, which consists of a series of tones or melody. If the animal continues moving toward and over the boundary, they receive two more audio warnings, followed by a shock. Once the animal passes the virtual boundary, they are considered “escaped” and the farmer is alerted through the app.

Baker recommends that if only one animal has escaped the virtual boundary, there’s a high chance they will return on their own, as “herd instinct is really, really strong.” The animal will not be shocked when crossing back into the virtual boundary.

The goal of this system is for the animal to associate that audio cue with a shock and “return back into the pasture before that melody is completed,” Baker said.

Three Vermont farmers who adopted the Nofence system during their 2024 grazing period included Kristan Doolan with Does’ Leap Farm (Bakersfield, VT), Melanie Harrison with Harrison’s Homegrown (Addison, VT) and Sam Dixon with Shelburne Farms (Shelburne, VT).

Doolan had been waiting for a new approach to fencing in their herd of goats, as managing net fencing is “just really cumbersome.” She was originally concerned that the goats would have a hard time getting in and out of the milking parlor head gates with their collars on, but they learned “without any problem.”

Harrison was given the opportunity to test the collars on their herd of organic Jersey heifers through the AgriTech Institute of Small Farms. At the start of the trial, Harrison set up a physical fence within the virtual fence to give the heifers “a little bit of an idea that something’s coming before they would just run right through” the virtual boundary. She found it “interesting from an animal behavior standpoint,” as some heifers in the group were always the first to test the boundary; others completely avoided it.

Dixon saw a lot of possibility with this technology and did a trial with some of their sheep. At first, the sheep were “very timid about exploring the boundaries of the collar.” They would stay bunched together. Over time, “they were becoming more comfortable with moving” and testing the boundaries.

The collars run on rechargeable batteries but also have solar panels that can withhold a charge for up to three months for sheep and goats and 12 months for cattle. Doolan found the batteries easy to change but noticed some damage to the solar panels from being hit in the milking parlor.

Harrison found the battery life to be “not as expected,” with most of them needing to be replaced within a few months of use.

The collars are most effective in areas with strong cell service. Baker said “at least one to two bars of service … in about 75% of your pastures” is needed for the Nofence system to report as frequently and immediately as it should.

Doolan, Harrison and Dixon all struggled with cell service on their property, making it difficult to instantaneously change boundary lines or get alerts in real time.

Dixon had an issue with predators during his trial, and even had all of his sheep run out of the boundary due to a coyote attack. He tried preventing the problem by creating a separate barrier around the virtual fence, but unfortunately had to cut their trial short for safety.

Doolan was worried about potential predator attacks so she only used the virtual fencing during the day, and if the goats were in “vulnerable” areas, such as in/near the woodlots, she would stay nearby or monitor the app closely.

Doolan found that with the Nofence system, they could utilize more land for grazing and it was significantly easier to rotate the goats to a new pasture or introduce them to a shadier area during hot summer days. She even noticed that the herd’s milk production increased about 13% since they began to use the Nofence system.

Overall, Doolan thinks this trial was “very effective” and “definitely paid for itself in labor and productivity.”

Harrison found that the system was not as effective as they were expecting. Although she appreciated being able to check on the heifers through the app, the system at its current price “doesn’t really make sense for [their] operation.”

Harrison found that the collars weren’t the right design for her Jersey heifers, as the chains were pinching and leaving rub marks, and the weight was causing “a little bit of swelling underneath their chins.”

Dixon acknowledged he’s not great with technology, so his herdsman monitored the app every day. His herdsman appreciated being able to closely monitor the animals and could tell if an animal was acting strangely and needed assistance.

Overall, Dixon “definitely could see the possibilities with the technology” – as long as the user is willing to learn how to use it.

To learn more about Nofence, visit www.nofence.no/en-us.

by Kelsi Devolve