Cowboys need to routinely move herds to different pastures so that the cows can get new grass to eat and the pastures can recover – or to move them to a given area for doctoring, branding or transportation. In some terrain that is a difficult and time consuming thing to do. A brand new experimental system for moving the cows has been in the works for a while is getting ready for commercial use.
The Directional Virtual Fencing™ (DVF) system sends electronic cues to a cow’s ears so that it will move in a preferred direction.
The system locates cows with global positioning and sends auditory signals, such as a human voice, that can be raised or lowered in volume. The commands can vary from familiar “gathering songs” sung by cowboys during manual round-ups to sirens designed to get cows to move or avoid entering forbidden areas.
The system is automated so ranchers can give cues at any time and track movements from a computer.
The Agricultural Research Service (ARS) of the U.S. Department of Agriculture has been experimenting with this and hopes to develop a commercial version soon. They recently granted a license to the Canadian firm Krimar who are interested in marketing a Directional Virtual Fencing™ system.
From an ARS paper extract:
“A Processing Unit (CPU) to control animals in real time. The GPS component in the DVF™ device gives animal position on the landscape, while a Geographic Information System (GIS) allows preprogrammed, latitude-longitude pairs to define a Virtual Center Line (VCL)™ inside a Virtual Boundary (VB)™). If the VB™ is penetrated by an instrumented animal, the direction of its head with respect to the VCL™ determines to which side of the animal the independently programmable, left and right side cues will be delivered to elicit the shortest turning direction for movement away from the VCL™ with the least cuing stress. Cue intensity is ramped from low at the VB™ perimeter to high at the VCL™. Should the animal fail to respond appropriately, cuing can be programmed to stop. Cow heart rate is elevated during cuing; however, the increase is only transitory as evidenced by animals quickly returning to graze in the opposite direction following cuing. Preliminary data from a small herd (n = 6) suggests not every animal in a group will need to wear a DVF™ device if the goal is to control the group’s distribution across a landscape.”
Gee, no more cold mornings. I can just sit around the computer on the kitchen table and tell the cows where to go. Wonder if would work for children as well………