Farming and tech: GPS tracked herds

Whilst at first glance farming may not seem very high tech, you’d be surprised at how much farming has changed with the introduction and improvement of technology. We’ve mentioned before about camera guided vehicles following the lines in crops but there are loads of different ways we’ve used tech to make farming more efficient. One such way is GPS tracking of the dairy herds.

Yes, you read that right. Our cows are tracked by GPS. We are trailing a system called No Fence where the GPS trackers around the cows’ necks (they look like large cow bells) emit a noise whenever the cows wander out of their allocated area. The cows learn pretty quickly where they’re allowed to graze and we are also notified if they are outside of their area.

These virtual fences mean we don’t have to keep moving physical fences when we move the livestock around. It saves us time, money and resources. The collars also have solar panels on them so they can charge from the sun! So, if you see us in a field, surrounded by cows looking at a phone or tablet - we’re not checking social media, we’re setting up virtual fences!  

Photo credit: Jim Wileman