Fencing Goats. This is genius!

[foggybok]

I have been visiting relatives in Norway and they have a fantastic solution to the goat fence problem. They are using a product called No Fence. I got to see it in action this trip. It actually keeps the goats is a small area next to the house. No coming into the yard and eating all her flowers like they used to. I was surprised to hear that it works so well. They also use it for their dairy cattle and their sheep. They can locate all the animals on the mountain and actually use it to bring them home in the fall, by moving the boundaries. It give an alert if an animal is not moving or goes out of the area (they said they have not had a problem with it holding any animal). She can actually program it to make a small alleyway for moving them around the farm. I really want one now! Then there is no excuse for not getting goats!

They have to wear a GPS collar. If they get close to the boundary, it emits a sound, if they get too close it progresses to a different sound, then a shock. My cousin said they learn very fast and it requires little training. I’m thinking not so on horses, because they’d probably panic and run through it, but he said they haven’t had that issue with any of their animals yet.

Would work great for someone with a brush eating business.

Nofence - The world’s first virtual fences for grazing animals

The guilty parties

[SusanO]

Can I use this with Bambi that has decided to live in my backyard and sneak into my front yard and eat all my rose bushes? Lots of pasture and privet to chow down on.

[foggybok]

lol, you have to catch him and get the transmitter on him first!

I hear you on Bambi, all of my mothers hostas got mown down by Bambi a few weeks ago…

[OverandOnward]

This is not new as it is in use with pet dogs, same thing, no-fence electrical shock barrier intended to contain the dog(s).

Sometimes it works. It works for my cousin’s two Cavalier King Charles. Both are little, soft and very pettable.

It can work on the right animals at the right time. But if an animal is highly willful and/or motivated, and especially if the animal is strong and fast, the invisible electric shock barrier may not work. The animal may run through it despite the shock. And in many cases the animal won’t cross the invisible shock barrier to return.

Why Invisible Fences Don’t Work

[foggybok]

Yes, I’ve seen those before, I know it’s not so new…It’s a little different from the dog fences. But yeah the downfalls are exactly why it probably is not a good idea for horses. And willful dogs.

It’s pretty cool in action though and does seem to do the job on goats.

This particular system is designed for livestock.

[Texarkana]

So is something like this available in the US and what’s the cost?

[Simkie]

I have a GPS collar for my dog. It has no fence or shock element–it’s a tracker only. But the number of times I’d get an “out of area” ping with her right next to me with a clear view of the sky were…numerous. It would often show her pretty far from where she actually was. Or I’d get a ping several minutes after she’d actually crossed an out of area boundary.

I dunno if the tracking ability is better with a collar that shocks, but…man, I’d hope so. This tech just doesn’t seem quite fully baked ime.

[foggybok]

@Simkie

I have a GPS collar for my dog. It has no fence or shock element–it’s a tracker only. But the number of times I’d get an “out of area” ping with her right next to me with a clear view of the sky were…numerous. It would often show her pretty far from where she actually was. Or I’d get a ping several minutes after she’d actually crossed an out of area boundary.

I dunno if the tracking ability is better with a collar that shocks, but…man, I’d hope so. This tech just doesn’t seem quite fully baked ime.

From my cousin who is using it, it has been reliable. The different companies have different technologies. Some use more satellites or ping the satellite more often. Like car GPS years ago, some of those had you driving off road or getting lost in roundabouts, but now they are much more accurate. I imagine it will only get better.

He showed me the live tracking of the animals and it showed them walking around grazing. Seemed pretty good.

The website mentions that if you have shelters, you can have issues, but they sell a device for $25 that takes care of the shelter issue.

My thought for using it would be to use it within a greater fenced area for rotational grazing. That way, they have a physical barrier if things go awry.

In Norway, people just send their animals up into the mountains and there are no fences, so this is a huge improvement for tracking and controlling. I can see it being useful in western US in some of the range areas or for rotational grazing without having to put up or take down fences all the time.

[foggybok]

@Texarkana

So is something like this available in the US and what’s the cost?

I think they do sell to US, but not sure. The transmitters are 200 per small ruminant and 300 for cattle. The batteries are better on the big ones and last the full grazing season. The ones on the goats can need replacing. But it gives you a message if they are low.

There is also a fee for the subscription.

So given the low margins on cattle, not sure it will fly here, but it does save you money on labor. You can actually move animals over long distances without any people. Just slowly move the fence border. My cousin said he can do from home in a few hours what used to take days when trying to get animals down from the mountain. Makes location so easy.

[clanter]

since it satellite based and used in Norway do they experience outages during solar flares?

Aurora Borealis are Intense magnetic storms that are known to disable satellites signals. And there is the issue with the North Pole shifting rapidly to the west causing the use of GPS to be sometimes to be unreliable in the polar regions.

I suspect the marketing of the product glosses over or does not address those issues

[foggybok]

Not sure what the marketing says. I’m only familiar with end user reports and they have been quite happy. They said they had one day of satellite outage when they had the goats at their summer place

[Texarkana]

@foggybok

@Texarkana

So is something like this available in the US and what’s the cost?

I think they do sell to US, but not sure. The transmitters are 200 per small ruminant and 300 for cattle. The batteries are better on the big ones and last the full grazing season. The ones on the goats can need replacing. But it gives you a message if they are low.

There is also a fee for the subscription.

So given the low margins on cattle, not sure it will fly here, but it does save you money on labor. You can actually move animals over long distances without any people. Just slowly move the fence border. My cousin said he can do from home in a few hours what used to take days when trying to get animals down from the mountain. Makes location so easy.

This is all very cool.

All I can think of is how great something like this would be when using goats for brush control.

[Chall]

I wanted someone to invent a feeder for horses that only opens to the correct individual’s electronic collar.
So in a pasture you have individual feed buckets, each which only opens to its personalized horse.
So medicine and horses running off others would be eliminated.

Of course you’d need electricity, and not everyone has solar. It didn’t sound workable to me.
I have a cat door that’s raccoon proof and only opens to cats with a magnetic colllar.
It has worked for 20 years without a hitch, except for one of my current cats who refuses to use it.

[stargzng386]

There’s a goat farm near me testing it out and they love it. Hopefully it really gains traction.

[foggybok]

@Chall

I wanted someone to invent a feeder for horses that only opens to the correct individual’s electronic collar.
So in a pasture you have individual feed buckets, each which only opens to its personalized horse.
So medicine and horses running off others would be eliminated.

Of course you’d need electricity, and not everyone has solar. It didn’t sound workable to me.
I have a cat door that’s raccoon proof and only opens to cats with a magnetic colllar.
It has worked for 20 years without a hitch, except for one of my current cats who refuses to use it.

My cousin has one for their cattle. The biggest problem they had was cows would go in, get their ration, leave, walk around and go in again. Of course they didn’t get anything the second time, but it would tie up the feeder. I can see greedy horses waiting around and pushing weaker ones away and stealing their food.

[fledermaus]

@foggybok

In Norway, people just send their animals up into the mountains and there are no fences, so this is a huge improvement for tracking and controlling. I can see it being useful in western US in some of the range areas or for rotational grazing without having to put up or take down fences all the time.

What kind of predators do they have in Norway?
In the US, fences are as much to keep predators out as goats in.

[luvmyhackney]

I wouldn’t feel safe having my goats free range, granted I only have two. Everything tries to eat them, they are only a small step up from chickens.

[foggybok]

@fledermaus

What kind of predators do they have in Norway?
In the US, fences are as much to keep predators out as goats in.

Wolves, brown bear and wolverines are the big three

[Tarlo_Farm]

I kept my goats fenced to keep them OUT of my flowers. In spite of living with coyotes, I never worried about them and my goats.

[stargzng386]

What predators are you keeping out? Do you have crazy high fencing? Anything I know like coyotes and bears can get over a fence very easily.