Demonstrate the Impact of Multi-Species Grazing with Virtual Fencing as Ecologically Beneficial Vegetation Management in Critical Watersheds

Ecologically minded land-owners, including dairy farmers, struggle to manage vast arrays of vegetation in varying landscapes. These landscapes are typically land that is not effectively crop-able, such as hilly areas, ravines, and riparian habitats. 

Dairy farmers with these landscapes seek ways to utilize the land, and are implementing managed grazing systems for their dairy cattle. As part of this
implementation process, farmers have done tremendous work to ready the land. This work includes, but isn't limited to, invasive plant removal, forage plantings, and high-tensile fencing. The success of this work has also removed land from highly erodible status, a win for sustainable agriculture and water quality. 

As cattle graze these lands and work to establish perennial pastures, they eat their preferred plants, mainly grass. Cattle prefer not to eat broadleaves,
shrubs and trees. Over time these plants, especially invasive species like buckthorn, begin to regrow and overtake the pasture. Farmers then struggle with ways to manage the undesired regrowth.  Given the challenging terrain, mechanical mowing may not be feasible. Other tools become very labor intensive (weed wackers, chainsaws, etc) and are a safety risk. Chemical use is not a preferred option given the critical watersheds these lands are
in. The land then becomes at risk of regressing into highly erodible land. 

This project is a two year project, occurring in 2024 and 2025. 

In 2024, a series of events unfolded that altered the reality of this project. In our original plan, the goal was to graze on three different sites utilizing virtual collars on three species. This goal turned out to be unattainable due to challenges with two of the three grazing sites not being utilized for this project. One of the sites was a significant safety hazard, in that the land to be grazed was inundated with woodchuck holes. These woodchuck holes are of extreme frequency, size, and depth and made this location an animal safety risk (fear of broken leg(s), injuries, etc). 

The site that was utilized in 2024 turned out to be a successful location of greater acreage availability, therefore we reduced the number of sites to 1 grazing site of 40 acres. With the project location situated, the next challenge that exhibited itself was the interactions of the different species with each other, and also with the virtual collars. 

Collars were acquired in the spring of 2024. The goats & sheep were trained to them on the home farm location before being transported to the grazing site. Also, the cattle are owned by a different farmer, the landowner of the project location. These cattle, dairy heifers, are more manageable as a herd of 40 head so the decision was made not to collar any cattle, noting they were contained by the existing physical fence (designed for dairy heifers).

The goats & sheep all exhibited trained behavior at the home farm, meaning that they stayed within a virtual boundary while on the home farm. This training involved using a physical fence combined with the virtual fence, and then the removal of the physical fence as the animals exhibited trained behavior. 

Next, a small group of goats was transported to the project acreage to begin the project. Due to them being trained to virtual fence, a small electronet paddock was set up to give them a "landing spot" as they acclimated to the new acreage, which was shared with the dairy heifers. As they settled in and explored over the next 24 hours, all was well. They left their "landing spot" and began grazing. 

On the next day, we arrived at the pasture to check on how the goats were doing via physical assessment. The goats were doing fine and were content. At about this time, the dairy heifers discovered humans were in their pasture and they came running to investigate, noting they are curious. The curious, running heifers startled the small group of goats. The result was the goats then escaped the virtual barrier and they had no interest in returning whilst the heifers were there. 

Because the goats had virtual collars on, their movements/locations were easily trackable via the Nofence app. At some point, the goats then split up into two groups. One group returned to the project pasture, and the second group went on an adventure. The second group was caught, transported back to the farm, and removed from the study. It is important to note that this starter group of goats was a "sub-herd", and had all originated as part of a larger goat herd acquisition. The group that remained on site then stayed within the virtual boundaries, spending the majority of their time deep in the ravine in a buckthorn forest that was inaccessible to the heifers (heifers don't eat buckthorn or go into buckthorn forests). 

After a few weeks, a much larger group of goats was added. This group of goats was a well bonded, well trained group of goats. These goats had been on multiple grazing sites with only virtual collars for containment and no history of escapes. This group also had a track record of coming when the shepherd (me) called to them. In other words, this second group was significantly more highly trained than the first group and exhibited a deeper bond to the shepherds (myself and my family) by coming when we called them. 

The second group had a few days of adaptation before the dairy heifers were grazing in the same space as them. There was a time of concern when the dairy heifers and the goats discovered each other. This time it was the dairy heifers fleeing the goats, as this group of goats thought they should chase the heifers. Thankfully, the goats had a smaller boundary and stopped at their virtual boundary while the heifers kept going while still contained by the heifer high tensile fence. After this experience, the goats & heifers came to an ability to co-exist in the same pasture. It should also be noted that for this second round, a corral was set up utilizing metal panels and gates for a physical containment system. Goats were offered mineral licks and treats within the corral. The corral became their safe "home spot" and also made for a convenient catch location when batteries needed to be changed, as well as for animal arrival & load out. 

The key findings in our 2024 work were laser focused on animal behavior. 

• If you are grazing without a physical perimeter fence, it is wise to use only livestock that are well bonded to you, their shepherd. 
• It is also wise to use a physical, portable corral/handling system so you can safely handle livestock in instances of wellness checks and battery replacements. 
• The unexpected value of using virtual collars was the peace of mind in knowing where the livestock are, at any moment in time, even if they escape. It is incredibly hard to put a dollar value on this. 
• Virtual fence is successful at containing sheep, goats and cattle. The instances of escape were all led by significant, motivating factors. It is quite likely that a physical fence would not have contained the goats/sheep when significant motivating factors for escape are present. It is quite likely that if a physical fence was present, it would have been destroyed or the sheep/goats would have become entangled. 

In 2025, we anticipate grazing 100 head of sheep & goats returning to the original project site. At this time, we will begin experimenting with seeing if we can graze leader/follower with the collars, as well as perform vegetation density measurements as stated in our original project proposal. Based upon animal observations and the experiences of 2024, we are a bit hesitant on how the goats & sheep will do in the leader follower system. This is because our sheep & goats are all raised together, and anecdotally function as a flerd. They have adapted behaviors from each species, as there are sheep that eat buckthorn on two legs, like a goat. There are goats that graze like sheep. This behavior is a result of my management system, and may or may not be replicated on other ranches.