Virtual Fencing Is Comparable to Electric Tape Fencing for Cattle Behavior and Welfare

Campbell, Dennis; Lea, Jim M.; Keshavarzi, Hamideh; C, Lee

doi:10.3389/fvets.2019.00445

Cited by 76 publications

(100 citation statements)

References 26 publications

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“…This brings in the potential for differences in environmental conditions that may have affected behaviour of the sheep in this study. With the development of automated collars, longer term larger scale replicated studies will be possible, as have been demonstrated in cattle (Campbell et al, 2019).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Social influence on the effectiveness of virtual fencing in sheep

Marini

Kearton

Ouzman

et al. 2020

PeerJ

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Early virtual fencing trials have effectively contained small groups of sheep within set areas of a paddock when all animals were wearing manual electronic collars. With sheep farming commonly involving large flocks, a potential cost-effective application of virtual fencing would involve applying equipment to only a proportion of the flock. In this study, we tested the ability of virtual fencing to control a small flock of sheep with differing proportions of the group exposed to the virtual fence (VF). Thirty-six Merino sheep were identified as leaders, middle or followers by moving them through a laneway. The sheep were then allocated to groups balanced for order of movement. The groups (n = 9 per group) included applying the VF to the following proportions of animals within each group: (1) 100% (n = 9 VF) (2) 66% (n = 6 VF; n = 3 no VF) (3) 33% (n = 3 VF; n = 6 no VF) (4) 0% (no VF; free to roam the paddock). The groups were given access to their own paddock (80 × 20 m) for two consecutive days, six hours per day, with the VF groups prevented from entering an exclusion zone that covered 50% of the north side of the paddock. During these hours, VF interactions, behavioural time budgets, and body temperature were recorded as measures of stress, and location was tracked with GPS. Group 100% VF and Control were tested on the first two days and groups 33% VF and 66% VF were tested on the following two days. During VF implementation the 100% VF and 66% VF group were successfully prevented from entering the exclusion zone. Having only 33% of the flock exposed to the virtual fence was not successful, with the sheep pushing forward through the VF to join flock mates in the exclusion zone. For learning to respond to the audio cue, sheep in the 33% group received more electrical stimuli with a 0.51 proportion for the ratio of electrical stimuli to audio cue, compared to 0.22 and 0.28 for the 100% and 66% groups, respectively. There were small differences in behavioural patterns of standing and lying on both days of testing, with the 100% VF and 66% VF groups spending more time lying. Although stress-induced hyperthermia did not occur in any of the VF groups, body temperature differed in the 33% VF group. There were no differences in temperature measures between the control and 100% VF animals. This study demonstrates that for a short period, controlling two-thirds of the flock was equally as effective as virtually fencing all animals, while controlling one-third of a flock with a virtual fence was not effective. For the short term, it appears that implementing the VF to a proportion of the flock can be an effective method of containment. Due to the limitations of this study, these results warrant further testing with larger flocks and for longer periods.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Behavioural time budgets have been used previously in cattle (Campbell et al, 2017;Campbell et al, 2019) and sheep (Marini et al, 2018a) exposed to virtual fencing, as indicators of impact to welfare through behavioural change. Another method of measuring impact on welfare includes measures of body temperature.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Social influence on the effectiveness of virtual fencing in sheep

Marini

Kearton

Ouzman

et al. 2020

PeerJ

Self Cite

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“…This warrants further study. Previous research has reported no significant behaviour or welfare impacts in beef cattle [ 11 ] or in sheep [ 10 ]. However, long term behaviour and welfare monitoring should be conducted to identify any animals that are unable to learn, and would, therefore, not be suited to the VF system [ 13 ].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Positive punishment training methods can have welfare implications, particularly if delivery is inconsistent, which affects an animal’s ability to learn [ 8 , 9 ]. Previous studies have demonstrated that the stress response to handling was greater than the response to VF stimuli in sheep [ 10 ], and the response of cattle to electrical stimuli was comparable to an electric fence [ 11 ]. The consistent delivery of stimuli (AT before EP) based on the animal’s behaviour, location and direction ensure predictability and controllability [ 12 , 13 , 14 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Multiple studies in cattle using different versions of a pre-commercial prototype (eShepherd ® , Agersens, Melbourne, Vic, Australia) VF device have reported on the impact of age and breed [ 15 ], moving VF fences [ 16 ], containment from riparian areas [ 17 ], spatial utilisation [ 7 ], and animal behaviour and welfare [ 5 , 11 , 13 , 15 , 18 ]. Findings suggest that cattle can learn a VF with greater than six interactions [ 13 ], as individuals [ 5 , 6 , 15 , 18 ] and in groups of up to 12 animals [ 7 , 16 , 17 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Should Dairy Cattle Be Trained to a Virtual Fence System as Individuals or in Groups?

Colusso

Clark

Lomax

2020

Animals

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Pre-commercial virtual fence (VF) neckbands (eShepherd®, Agersens, Melbourne, Vic, Australia) can contain cows within a designated area without the need for physical fencing, through associative learning of a paired audio tone and electrical pulse. Cattle are gregarious, so there may be an impact of herd mates on the learning process. To evaluate this, a VF was set 30 m down one of three test paddocks with a feed attractant 70 m past the VF. Twenty-three Holstein-Friesian cows were all fitted with VF neckbands and trained as individuals or in groups (5–6) for four 10 min tests; then, cows were crossed over to the alternate context for two more 10 min tests. The number of cows breaking through the VF and the number of paired stimuli reduced across time (from 82% to 26% and 45% to 14%, respectively, p < 0.01). Cows trained in a group (88%) were more likely to interact with the VF in the crossover compared to those trained as individuals (36%) (p < 0.01), indicating an influence of group members on individual cow response. Individual training is impractical, therefore, future research should evaluate group training protocols ensuring all cows learn the VF to avoid any adverse impacts on animal welfare.

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Precision livestock farming applied to grazingland monitoring and management—A review

et al. 2023

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To meet the expected demand for food while protecting animal welfare, environmental sustainability, and profitability, animal production efficiency must improve. Improvements in grazinglands management techniques can impact livestock production efficiency. The current stage of artificial intelligence development, mainly machine learning techniques, remote sensing (RS), and precision agriculture technologies, automatizes data collection and raises the monitoring capacity to support on‐farm decision‐making. This literature review presents current developments in precision livestock farming (PLF) applied to grazinglands monitoring and management, demonstrates some knowledge gaps, and discusses potential solutions of grazinglands management issues. Although the implementation of precision technologies in grazing systems is advancing rapidly, challenges, such as lack of reliable reference data and low variability of datasets used to calibrate models, are examples of constraints to be addressed in future studies. More effort in terms of relationship strengthening between farmers and researchers, benefits elucidation, cooperation among professionals with different expertise, and software or app development must be directed to make the knowledge accessible and largely implemented in field conditions.

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Virtual Fencing Is Comparable to Electric Tape Fencing for Cattle Behavior and Welfare

Cited by 76 publications

References 26 publications

Social influence on the effectiveness of virtual fencing in sheep

Social influence on the effectiveness of virtual fencing in sheep

Should Dairy Cattle Be Trained to a Virtual Fence System as Individuals or in Groups?

Precision livestock farming applied to grazingland monitoring and management—A review

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