U of A research team studying tech that can corral cattle with the touch of an iPhone

Cattle domestication began some 10,000 years ago. Controlling the movements of the creatures has been a human endeavour for millennia, using all manner of tool from herding dogs to electrified fences.

Now, it can be done with an iPhone.

A University of Alberta research team is looking into how virtual fencing can be used in cattle ranching. By looking at how the technology works and how it may affect production, the hope is to provide relevant, concrete information for producers interested in adopting it.

Virtual fencing is a technology that tells cattle where a virtual boundary is through audio warnings and electric shocks. It's not intended to replace physical perimeter fences but be used as a kind of cross fencing, dividing the main pasture for rotational grazing.

Alex Harland, a graduate student at the University of Alberta studying virtual fencing, said the technology can help farmers save money in the long run.

"Cross fencing is very expensive and moving animals is very labour intensive," she said in an interview last week.

The technology is available through Norwegian company Nofence. A collar resembling a plastic cowbell is put on cattle and powered with solar panels along the sides. Harland said that once equipment is put on and the cattle have been trained on how to use it, all you need is the accompanying app on your phone.

"You basically draw with your finger what you want the boundaries of your pasture to look like, and then that information gets downloaded to the collar."

If the virtual boundary is crossed, the cattle will get a warning sound. The cattle are then trained to turn the other way, Harland said.

If they don't, they will get an electric shock.

That warning and shock can happen up to three times, after which the user will be notified that the animal has escaped and the collar goes to sleep.

Seventy-six virtual fence collars are being used at the U of A Roy Berg Kinsella Research Ranch. Harland's research focuses on 39 cow-calf pairs and three bulls and looks at whether the technology is effective, how herds respond to it, and how it can be used to do rotational grazing.

Harland said that while some may be concerned about the impact the electric shocks have on cattle, the strength is about one sixth of a normal electric fence — and the cattle learn to avoid shocks with time.

"They will continue to graze at the boundary as that audio warning goes until the very end. And then they break off and avoid the shock and then they will come back."

One question for the study was to look at if virtual fencing has effects on the health and wellness of the cattle in terms of weight or conception rates.

But Harland said her preliminary data hasn't shown a correlation between weight gain and the shocks from the collars. And the conception rate for the heifers was within the normal range.

One barrier that Harland did hear from ranchers was a lack of internet connection.

"Looking for more technology solutions to network connectivity issues I think will be huge and will bring this sort of technology to be more accessible to more ranchers and people."

Farmer wants more local product

Lance Neilson runs a cow-calf operation near Stettler, Alta.. He said that farmers have known this technology was coming for a long time.

"It's something that's been in the back of my mind for quite a few years," he said. "Precision agriculture in grain farming has been here for about 20 years. [Cattle farming is] just waiting for technology to catch up."

Neilson paired with Olds College to pilot virtual fencing on four of his cattle.

"It exceeded my expectations," he said.

Nielsen said the biggest appeal is the ability to do more precision grazing, a grazing technique that uses technology to allow a quick and efficient rotation on a regular basis.

He explained that this allows for more effective use of the pasture, promoting grass growth and greater carbon sequestering into the soil.

"There really are so many benefits and it allows me as the producer to get more grazing days out of the same land."

Neilson said that what he would like to see next for virtual fencing is some government support to bring the product closer to home.

"We need a made-in-Canada solution and that requires money and funding."

Rather than order the collars from Europe, Neilson is hoping to see a product enter the market from Canada in collaboration with farmers.

"I see this as a pretty big opportunity but it's too risky of an opportunity for an individual farmer to take on their own."