The Numbers Just Don't Add Up: Making Virtual Fencing a Financial Reality to Goat Producers

Commodities

Practices

This project, titled "The Numbers Just Don't Add Up: Making Virtual Fencing a Financial Reality to Goat Producers" focuses on developing and testing virtual fencing technology specifically for goats at a price point for goat farmers to make a profit with their livestock.

Problem: Virtual fencing technology is growing, and so is the demand. However, current virtual fencing technology is either not available for goats, or requires monthly cellular fees per livestock collar. At this time, only one virtual fencing technology, NoFence, is available on the US market (several other companies have virtual fencing available only for cattle). The design of NoFence requires an individualized cell connection for each goat. This current fee structure for goat-tested virtual fencing technology is too expensive for many goat producers to be profitable in their business.

Approach/methods: Two goat ranchers have organized a team of a technology specialist, engineering team, fabrication artists, product development partner, and regenerative grazing technology consulting company to create an affordable and effective virtual fencing collar for small goat herds (up to 40 goats), and medium goat herds (up to 300 goats). Across this project, the product development, fabrication, and technology teams will develop virtual fencing with rancher input and the ranchers will complete herd testing in incremental steps with input from the product development partner. All parties involved will work within their expertise to develop a cost-effective prototype for the initial trial herds.

Proposed project outcomes:

This project will:

1. Fund the research/development of a virtual fencing collar specializing in goats.
2. Utilize currently-available GPS, sound, and shock technology to develop these virtual collars. Solar power and battery usage will also be included.
3. Create software allowing GPS technology to communicate with a base station and marker flag that utilizes a single cellular connection per herd.
4. Trial collars in two small-to-medium (40-300 head) goat herds, across regional temperature extremes in each herd, to identify affordability and effectiveness for goat producers.
5. Create User Guidelines PDF on virtual fencing system.
6. Develop a cost/benefit analysis regarding this system.
7. Disseminate findings to other goat ranchers.

Relevance to farmers and ranchers in the North Central Region: This project is farmer-driven; ranchers are requesting the project and teaming with researchers, rather than the other way around. Goat ranchers want cost-effective, labor-sustaining methods of rotating goats to maintain herd health against internal parasites that are prevalent in the North Central Region. Cost-conscious virtual fencing collars meets this need.

Audience

The primary audience for this project is goat farmers and ranchers across the United States, with a focus on those in the North Central SARE Region. Some goat farmers, particularly those operating grazing businesses, have already begun utilizing NoFence virtual fencing collars, the only current U.S. market option for goats. However, through direct conversations with regional goat farmers, the recurring cellular fee associated with each goat collar has been identified as a key barrier to widespread adoption. This cost makes it difficult for goat farmers outside of contract grazing businesses to achieve profitability while using this technology, despite its potential to revolutionize herd and pasture management.

This project directly addresses the audience-product gap because the lead researchers are also the primary audience (goat farmers/ranchers). Two goat ranchers are leading this project to impact their daily operations with the goal of revolutionizing grazing opportunities for goat farmers/ranchers nationwide. The ranchers are committed to joining a multidisciplinary team to develop an affordable, practical, farmer-led virtual fencing solution for goats that can be adopted across the industry.

Learning Outcomes

Throughout this project, goat farmers and ranchers will:

1. Understand the persistent browsing nature of goats that can make them difficult to fence with conventional methods.
2. Recognize the critical role rotational grazing plays in improving goat herd health, reducing parasite loads, and enhancing pasture sustainability.
3. Learn how virtual fencing supports cost-effective rotational grazing for non-contract grazing business operations.
4. Gain knowledge of alternative virtual fencing designs, including the integration of Long Range Wide Area Network (LoRaWAN) to eliminate the need for cellular costs per animal.
5. Understand how to train goats to respect virtual fence boundaries using auditory and physical cues.

By the conclusion of this project, we expect at least 100 goat farmers to have attended in-person presentations or online training sessions discussing the benefits of virtual fencing, with at least 75% of attendees reporting an increased understanding of virtual fencing feasibility and rotational grazing benefits through pre/post surveys.

Action Outcomes

Goat farmers and researchers involved in this project will:

1. Collaborate with a multidisciplinary team consisting of a technology specialist, engineering team, fabricators, and a product development partner to develop durable virtual fencing collars using GPS, sound, and shock technology.
2. Develop a base station utilizing a single cellular connection per herd, reducing the per-animal cost currently limiting widespread adoption in goat farming.
3. Create a "follow flag" that connects to the base station, reinforcing GPS boundaries and visually indicating paddock movement.
4. Provide feedback to the multidisciplinary team on collar durability, goat response, and pasture impacts.
5. Utilize project-developed software to set virtual fencing boundaries.

By the end of this project, participating goat farmers/ranchers will have:

1. Trained their herds of up to 300 goats to use virtual fence collars.
2. Trialed the virtual fencing system on their goat herds for a minimum of 60 days, testing in seasonal conditions.
3. Provided direct feedback on collar effectiveness, ease of use, and functionality of software interfaces.
4. Created training and user guidelines for goat ranchers who implement this system.
5. Developed a User Guidelines PDF, 45-minute presentation, and a written article to be used in knowledge-sharing activities.
6. Disseminated project findings through a minimum of three activities, such as field demonstrations, webinars, conferences, journals/periodicals.

Through these actions, we anticipate at least five additional goat farmers will express intent to trial virtual fencing in their operations within a year after project completion. We expect interest will dramatically increase as additional goat farmers trial the virtual fencing system.