A Kerry county councillor is calling on Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine Charlie McConalogue to provide grants to sheep farmers for virtual fencing.
Fianna Fáil councillor Breandán Fitzgerald told Agriland that he had been approached by farmers in west Kerry to contact the minister to seek grant aid for the systems.
Virtual fencing aims to keep animals contained in certain areas by using a combination of global positioning system (GPS) sensors, wireless technologies and remote mapping.
When the livestock approaches the virtual boundary, a GPS collar will emit a sound that increases in volume. The animal gets an electrical pulse from the collar if they cross the coordinates of the perimeter fence.
The development and uptake of the technology has been limited to date, but there is now significant interest in the systems for controlling grazing management and animal movement.
Virtual fencing
Cllr. Fitzgerald raised the issue during a meeting of the Castleisland Corca Dhuibhne Municipal District this week, where his fellow councillors agreed to write to Minister McConalogue about the possibility of grant aid.
“Basically, a farmer would need an app and then a bit of training in how to use the collar and the app.
“For me, it makes perfect sense, especially when you’re talking about commonage and the hills that we have around here. It can help to prevent overgrazing and undergrazing and it’s hopefully going to make life very easy for farmers.
“It’s not going to take away from the fact that farmers must look after their livestock, but it will it will help them know where their livestock is and it will help them to guide them to where they want their livestock to be,” he said.
The councillor said that the technology could also be used in the future to help protect livestock from dog attacks.
“The possibilities for virtual for fencing are limitless, even the information that can be gathered from where livestock are going to even say for burning gorse on hills as well.
“If we want to hopefully reduce the burnings maybe we can actually use virtual fencing to guide livestock to areas of the of the hills, which would lessen the wildness of the gorse, so when a fire does happen it doesn’t take complete control of the ground,” Fitzgerald said.
Earlier this year a review was published detailing the results of a three-year pilot study overseen by Barry O’Donoghue from the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) involving Nofence virtual fencing technology.
This pilot study, the first of its kind in Ireland, was deemed a success in examining the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of virtual fencing.
The study found that the fencing can be a valuable tool for conservation grazing, but the technology is not without risks.
In order for virtual fencing to be successful, the training process for the animals and farmers is a key factor to ensure that animal welfare and environmental obligations are to the fore.
The project, focused on the environment, livestock and farmers, was undertaken across 12 sites totaling almost 7,200ha of grazing ground.
These sites were located in counties Leitrim; Sligo; Donegal; Galway; Waterford; Wexford; and Tory Island.