Peter Morley, The Courier Mail 16 August, 2007
Barbed wire and posts will become a thing of the past when the CSIRO perfects a virtual fence that keeps cattle contained. Collars fitted to animals will emit a sound that warns cattle when they are approaching a virtual boundary line. The boundaries are drawn by a global positioning system and exist only as a line on a computer.
“There are no wires or fixed transmitters used at all in this animal-friendly approach” CSIRO spokesman Andrew Fisher said.
“What we are developing achieves the same result as a conventional fence but without the need for posts and wire.”
Dr Fisher said the collars contained advanced software to identify when a beast was near a fence line and which signal should be emitted. A prototype system had been successfully demonstrated on a herd of cattle which learnt within an hour to avoid the virtual fence boundary. “The cattle learn by associating the sound signal with their behaviour as they approach the boundary,” Dr Fisher said.
Researchers had conducted measurements, overseen by an independen animal welfare expert, that showed the animals were not unduly stressed by the systen, which hopefully would be developed commercially.
Once the boundary was set using the satellite technology, the sensor-based system was fully automated and self-sufficient and it allowed farmers to continuously monitor the location of their cattle, Dr Fisher said.
“Although there is still some work to be done in areas such as smart power management before the system is commercially viable, we can envisage a farm of the future where farmers can fence their property from the comfort of their homesteads,” Dr Fisher said.
