Grazing animals are part of Essex Wildlife Trust’s team. Our cows help us to make our nature reserves more wildlife-friendly and their welfare is our priority.
A position statement to outline Essex Wildlife Trust’s use of virtual fencing technology (no-fence grazing).
We use traditional breed cows to graze suitable nature reserves. The reason we do this is that their selective grazing enables richer grasslands to develop, which in turn support an abundance of species.
We use virtual fencing technology as this:
- Gives us live information and alerts on each individual cow, enabling us to react quickly should we need to.
- Means we can move them on easily, so areas are not grazed too intensely.
- Enables us to graze areas we wouldn’t usually be able to.
- Reduces the number of fences criss-crossing the landscape.
- Ensures we can look after our cows in line with the highest welfare standards.
- Enables us to manage our habitats better for wildlife.
What is no-fence grazing?
With virtual fencing, cows wear GPS-enabled collars that set their boundaries virtually, rather than needing to stay within physical fencing. This allows us to track individual animals, supporting animal welfare and gives us evidence-based insight to help us better manage our nature reserves.
If cows approach a boundary, they hear a warning sound. Animals using the collars are carefully selected based on age and temperament and trained so that they will turn back when they hear the cue. If a cow continues to approach the boundary, they receive an electric pulse of a lesser level than an electric fence.
By using this technology, the Trust can effectively graze our reserves for nature and ensure we look after the welfare of our livestock.
Animal welfare is our priority
Essex Wildlife Trust’s approach
The Trust has a dedicated, specialist livestock and grazing team to ensure the welfare of our grazing animals. All animals are monitored at least daily, as are any interactions between visitors and livestock. This is a legal requirement under the Welfare of Farmed Animals Regulations (WoFAR) (England & Wales 2007, Schedule 1 para 2). The Trust also ensures that it follows the Codes of Recommendations for the Welfare of Livestock for cattle (2003) and sheep (2000). Furthermore, we adhere to the Five Freedoms protocol for managing and caring for livestock. The Trust’s Grazing Team has been trained in herding and handling techniques that minimise stress to our animals by a Defra-recognised expert and advisor.
Background research for no-fence technology
Defra and the Animal & Plant Health Agency (APHA) asked the Animal Welfare Committee (AWC) to conduct a review of the technology and assess virtual fencing’s capabilities and the suitability of locations where it was being deployed.
The AWC provides authoritative advice to Government based on scientific evidence, stakeholder consultation, site visits, and the experience of its committee members. For virtual fencing, the AWC conducted a detailed assessment between 2021 and 2022, providing its conclusions and recommendations in an independent report published by Defra in October 2022.
In its conclusions, the AWC recognised that virtual fencing has several advantages over conventional electric fencing. It also recognised that the current systems being used (such as NoFence) are of “high quality” and that, if used correctly and following the AWC’s recommendations, virtual fencing “has the potential to maintain or improve livestock welfare”.
We use No-fence collars correctly and follow the AWC’s recommendations.
Further reading available here.
Training and protocols
Training is conducted in a quiet and carefully-chosen location with visual cues used to reinforce the association between audible cues, electric pulses and the physical barrier. The training period is usually very short as most animals learn quickly, often within the first day. The AWC found in its investigation that training might last between 5 -7 days. If, during training, any animal was shown to be unsuitable for virtual fencing, the Trust would not use that animal with the system, and it would only graze sites where standard livestock fencing is used.
Cues for cows
The audible cues also begin many metres (up to 17m) from the virtual fence-line, so once trained, the cows are much less likely to receive a pulse during normal grazing activity. The number of pulses a cow receives during a grazing period is closely monitored, and action would be taken by the Trust’s Grazing Team to remove any animal from the virtual fence system if it showed signs of ignoring the audible cues for whatever reason. The animal would then graze sites where standard livestock fencing is used.
The electric pulse is set at a fixed and much lower level than that of most commonly used electric fencing systems. In tests on cows when similar systems were being developed in the USA, the measurements of the cows’ responses showed that the stimulus provoked a similar response in the cows to that which they might experience if startled by something natural like a low-flying flock of birds passing overhead.
What are the benefits of using this system?
Virtual fencing has advantages for both livestock and for people, and it is on this basis that the Trust and many other conservation land managers around the UK use the technology.
The use of no-fence collars allows us to mimic a more natural grazing behaviour for cows, giving them better nutrition and improving their safety. We only use no-fence grazing on large sites where cows can roam extensive areas.
Through the use of virtual technology, we can track individual members of the herd and be quicker at responding to their needs.
The use of GPS-based virtual fencing has been tried and tested and has now been used for many years. Essex Wildlife Trust is committed to the ongoing research and learning around no-fence collars and puts the welfare of animals at the forefront of our conservation grazing practice. As with all systems, we will continue to monitor their effectiveness and safety.
