Virtual fence company launches in Ireland
Melissa Jeuken and one of her goats who wears a Nofence collar. Picture: HĂĄkon Broder Lund/ Nofence.
Nofence, the world’s first commercial virtual fencing system for livestock, has announced plans to launch in Ireland.
The firm's virtual fencing technology allows farmers to easily determine grazing areas, exclusion zones and manage the rotation of their livestock using GPS collars on the animals via an app.
It offers an alternative to traditional fencing, particularly in challenging terrains, commonages, and areas with sensitive flora and fauna.
A handful of farmers in Ireland have already purchased Nofence collars from the company’s UK team, where Nofence has seen rapid adoption since 2021. However, market entry in Ireland makes this game-changing tool more accessible to farmers across the country.
Founded in Norway in 2011 by goat farmer Oscar Hovde, Nofence is the world’s first commercial virtual fencing system for livestock, serving as a sustainable alternative to traditional fencing.
The animals’ grazing areas are managed using a GPS collar which communicates with an app using a mobile network. When the animals approach the virtual fence, an escalating acoustic sound is played. If they ignore the sound, they will get a light electrical pulse.Â
The animals learn this quickly in their training period of up to 10 days.
Pilot customers first began using it in Norway in 2019, with the company recently surpassing 100,000 collars sold across Europe.
Chief executive Joachim Kahler explained the technology allows farmers to graze their livestock on land incompatible with traditional fences, for example, on commonages and difficult-to-reach areas where it can be difficult to get agreement from shareholders or to install and maintain fences.
Melissa Jeuken, a goat herder in North Dublin, was among the first in Ireland to use the technology.Â
“The main point is training your stock. Then you can graze and map any site accordingly," she said. "You can actually adjust and make real-time changes to boundaries geared towards desired grazing levels or protecting delicate plant species. It's very versatile. You can adjust it to the seasons and what's going on that day, that week."
Virtual fencing technology also has proven benefits for safeguarding biodiverse landscapes, facilitating controlled grazing, protecting sensitive plant species. Additionally, the exclusion zones feature helps preserve delicate vegetation, shrubs, and flowers by keeping livestock away from these areas.
James Breslin, Inishowen Uplands EIP cattle farmer, explained he had used the technology to reduce the risk of wildfires on his land.
"The fire risk was very high before I got the cattle confined... The Nofence technology has been crucial in managing this risk by allowing us to control grazing patterns effectively," he said.Â
"By preventing the overgrowth of woody heather and millennia-type grasses, which are highly flammable, we have significantly reduced the potential for wildfires. The only time we could manage the fire risk was when we got the collars."
