Posted on Jun 21, 2022
How satellite-guided cows might save the Kansas prairie and make ranchers more money
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Prairie wildlife needs a patchy landscape, in which different areas bear the marks of varying degrees of grazing. Scientists have a plan to achieve that.
STRONG CITY, Kansas — Third-generation rancher Daniel Mushrush has 30-plus miles of barbed wire fence to tend to.
Calves wriggle beneath it. The wires get loose. Wild animals take a toll. And when streams surge after storms, rushing water often snaps sections in two.
For Mushrush and his family, the fence-mending on their Flint Hills ranch never ends. It’s inescapable.
“Fencing is right up there with death and taxes,” the third-generation cattle rancher said.
But this year, his cattle sport new GPS collars intended to make traditional fences not quite obsolete, but less important. About the size of an iPhone and twice as thick, the collars offer a high-tech take on the kind of familiar invisible fences that homeowners install for dogs.
STRONG CITY, Kansas — Third-generation rancher Daniel Mushrush has 30-plus miles of barbed wire fence to tend to.
Calves wriggle beneath it. The wires get loose. Wild animals take a toll. And when streams surge after storms, rushing water often snaps sections in two.
For Mushrush and his family, the fence-mending on their Flint Hills ranch never ends. It’s inescapable.
“Fencing is right up there with death and taxes,” the third-generation cattle rancher said.
But this year, his cattle sport new GPS collars intended to make traditional fences not quite obsolete, but less important. About the size of an iPhone and twice as thick, the collars offer a high-tech take on the kind of familiar invisible fences that homeowners install for dogs.
How satellite-guided cows might save the Kansas prairie and make ranchers more money
Posted from kcur.org
Ranching
Technology
Wildlife
Science
GPS
Posted >1 y ago
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PO1 William "Chip" Nagel
SFC Joe S. Davis Jr., MSM, DSL Bloody Amazing what they're doing in Ranching these days.
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PO1 William "Chip" Nagel Very interesting means of maintaining grazing range! If the electric shock is a strong as I remember from our electric fence, those cattle will learn quickly!
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PO1 William "Chip" Nagel
CSM Charles Hayden We had an "Electric Fence" for One of Our Dogs "Bud" He was an Escape Artist from Hell, I Touched It Once! Don't Do that! It Hurts!
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"Mushrush’s Red Angus cattle will help researchers learn whether the devices can save ranchers money and simultaneously help ailing bird populations, reduce water pollution and increase the resilience and diversity of grasslands."
It sounds like useful research - including what the virtual fencing industry can learn from the study. However, those poor cows! Bad enough they have to have that id tag on the ears Adding that large chain and the large sized electronic device looks cruel. Given the extent to which electronics have been miniaturized it seems the same intention and result could be had without all that hardware . . .
How can that hardware not get in the way and hit them in the mouth when they are grazing?
It sounds like useful research - including what the virtual fencing industry can learn from the study. However, those poor cows! Bad enough they have to have that id tag on the ears Adding that large chain and the large sized electronic device looks cruel. Given the extent to which electronics have been miniaturized it seems the same intention and result could be had without all that hardware . . .
How can that hardware not get in the way and hit them in the mouth when they are grazing?
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