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Cows get GPS collars to stop them falling in river
- zeristor 1y agoFound via: https://diamondgeezer.blogspot.com/2025/05/local-news.html https://diamondgeezer.blogspot.com/2025/05/local-news.html Sometimes the provenance is just as interesting
- walterbell 1y agoTablogoid!
- aspenmayer 1y agoThanks for that. Metadata can sometimes be more useful than the data itself.
- aaron695 1y agoOld tech, but this video impressed me - https://www.tiktok.com/@halterhq/video/7504837843571838215 https://www.tiktok.com/@halterhq/video/7504837843571838215 It's more than a virtual fence, it can move them and has health checks / in heat. I don't know if you can split the herd once together but you can manage more mobs, bring them in groups (Like small and large) for milking or feeding. You could be able to tell if they mated as well or ever direct the bull towards heifers that haven't.
- samplatt 1y ago...are fences too costly, or something?
- account-5 1y agoPretty sure they might be cheaper that £10k a year.
- deleted 1y ago[deleted]
- jaoane 1y agoMaybe after ten years.
- bartvk 1y agoYes, fencing is very costly especially because cows are strong. I grew up on the countryside and learned a couple of things. Fencing not only needs to be built but also maintained. You can also use electric fences but that's basically the same, and you need to run power. Cows are stubborn and especially in summer, when they found out that the water cools them down, they get into the water. But often they can't get out, at least how N/W-European pastures are. So you get a tractor and pull them out, but then they learn that :-) What actually is necessary, is that there's enough shade. But trees need to maintained so a lot of farmers cut them down. Note that my knowledge is limited and perhaps already out of date.
- Cthulhu_ 1y agoModern solution, a half-open barn with a roof of solar panels. I don't understand why pastures don't have a roofed area. ...solar panels that power the electric fence or 5g broadcaster for the GPS collars, lol.
- rcxdude 1y agoWould cheese off a few people in the area, since along that stretch of river there's a popular riverside picnic spot and a mooring area for houseboats. (Also, it's a common, which in England means massive piles of red tape to build anything on it)
- badmintonbaseba 1y agoThe cows graze in parks shared with people. You don't want to fence around the people, just the cows. This is an example of a field that the cows visit regularly: https://maps.app.goo.gl/iYbCeJu8fvrmuAXz9 https://maps.app.goo.gl/iYbCeJu8fvrmuAXz9
- strken 1y agoI suppose they didn't feel a stile, gate, or cattle grid would be aesthetic enough.
- badmintonbaseba 1y agoThere are already barriers like that at the edges of the common: https://maps.app.goo.gl/1anrXAPRE3Dp3ZFo9 https://maps.app.goo.gl/1anrXAPRE3Dp3ZFo9 https://maps.app.goo.gl/YTfAYamG55SftWay6 https://maps.app.goo.gl/YTfAYamG55SftWay6 https://maps.app.goo.gl/AWKxr76HUzgvSqBG7 https://maps.app.goo.gl/AWKxr76HUzgvSqBG7 People have free access to the river and the field, any physical barrier would limit that.
- deleted 1y ago[deleted]
- ceejayoz 1y agoThe cows are on public, multi-use land. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_land https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_land
- AngryData 1y agoFences are useful, but if a cow truly wants through a fence, they can and will just push through it and snap it. Electric fences and barbed wire can make them a better deterrent, but even then if the grass on the other side looks tasty enough they will push all of their potentially 2,000+ pounds against that fence until it tips over or snaps.
- gorgoiler 1y agoIf I recall correctly, Cambridge City are using off the shelf grazing tech to help with a one off problem. These digicowbells have a more common application of managing grazing herds in order to rotate them evenly through pastures without having to go out and redeploy fencing every week. If you want Daisy et al to let the north half of the field regrow you just draw a line around it in the app and it’ll get left ungrazed. Popular in large commonland projects too where you want to dynamically leave parts of the land fallow. It’s also just handy to give your cattle a mobile device. You can monitor their health and breeding status. In the spirit of the dad joke about asking if iPhones “can also make phone calls!?”, it wouldn’t be crazy if these things shipped one day with some kind of two way communications. If Gertrude gets stuck ten miles up the valley it could be handy, perhaps, to see what the problem is before you fire up the brummy quattro (Land Rover.)
- meigwilym 1y agoThis is a great idea. A drone would also work, but would need favourable weather.
- chaps 1y agoWhat is this article. GPS has been used for cow tracking since the 80s at least. Some of the companies have gone on to do ankle monitoring of people. Turns out GPS isn't that accurate :)
- jadamson 1y agoIt was less accurate in the 80s/90s, if you were a civilian. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Error_analysis_for_the_Global_Positioning_System#Selective_Availability https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Error_analysis_for_the_Global_...
- mschuster91 1y agoMeanwhile in German politics: "We don't need 5G on every cow facility" [1]. Turns out, modern agriculture needs good mobile connectivity wherever cows are being held... Politics aside, what I don't get is why they don't go and raise temporary electric fences with gates - that's how cows are held in alpine regions. And a side note, if you go on a hike in alpine regions in Germany, please close the gates after you pass through so that the cows don't escape. [1] https://www.spiegel.de/politik/deutschland/anja-karliczek-bremst-beim-netzausbau-5g-nicht-an-jeder-milchkanne-notwendig-a-450a7e4e-3e18-49d3-8132-c87b71c9b295 https://www.spiegel.de/politik/deutschland/anja-karliczek-br...
- DocTomoe 1y agoI guess we would just set up a cow fence. These GPS trackers help find cattle, possibly making rescue efforts faster and thus cheaper, but they do not prevent them falling into that river in the first place. A fence does. I know, this is the classical "NASA builds a 1 million dollar Space pen, Russians use pencil" story - but sometimes, high tech is not necessary to solve problems that have been solved for centuries. Doesn't mean we don't need better infrastructure. Just that we should avoid overcomplicating things.
- readams 1y agoIf you read the article, you'll find that in fact the collars do prevent them from moving toward the river using sound, vibration, and shocks.
- mrmanner 1y ago> they do not prevent them falling into that river in the first place The article explains pretty well how the devices prevent cows from falling into the river: > Solar-powered GPS devices emit a high-pitched sound as the animal moves through a boundary zone towards the water, with a mild electric pulse delivered if it fails to turn around.
- DocTomoe 1y agoSo the cow learns there is a 'good zone' or a 'bad zone' to be in. And how does the cow - which now may be panicking - know it does not exit the 'bad zone' by, let's say, jumping into the river? Applying human intelligence to bovines may be misguided.
- emmelaich 1y agoClassic kids book: https://bestkidsbooks.com/selection/the-cow-who-fell-in-the-canal/ https://bestkidsbooks.com/selection/the-cow-who-fell-in-the-...
- gadders 1y agoOur neighbour's cow walked down a slope to drink from a river in the field near us. Unfortunately the slope was a bit muddy and it couldn't get back up again. After we all tried to give it a bit of a push, we had to admit defeat and call in the Kent Fire Service Animal Rescue Unit: https://www.kent.fire-uk.org/news/meet-crew-specially-trained-rescue-animals-across-kent https://www.kent.fire-uk.org/news/meet-crew-specially-traine...
- williamdclt 1y ago> After we all tried to give it a bit of a push Not a countryside guy: sounds kinda dangerous? If the cow panics (or gets annoyed/angry), getting kicked by a hoof would seem like a direct trip to the hospital? Or if it slips and falls on someone (is that possible?)
- gadders 1y agoIt was pretty tentative, and from memory we used a strap across its backside, rather than stand directly behind and push by hand. I did also have to deadlift a wet sheep out of a stream once and carry one from one field to another. That was a lot easier.
- jaredhallen 1y agoI've been kicked by cows a fair number of times. I'm sure it could be serious under the right circumstances, but usually it just hurts a lot. Interesting fact, unlike horses cows can kick sideways.
- josefritzishere 1y agoPeople do not normally imagine Cows administering ninja kicks but they kinda do.
- potato3732842 1y agoThe cow knows from situation and body language that everyone is trying to help. Panic is not likely. As with most things, it's not as dangerous as the internet would have you think. Don't sneak up it and hit it and you'll be fine.
- ViscountPenguin 1y agoThe local council was using these things to let cows graze Wanstead park for a while, they were really cute.
- scowby 1y agoThere is Australian research into virtual fencing https://www.csiro.au/en/research/technology-space/it/Virtual-fencing https://www.csiro.au/en/research/technology-space/it/Virtual... that has been commercialised. There’s a lot of expense in fencing and being able to herd cattle remotely is one of the benefits, you can also define areas to avoid, like rivers and dams without putting a fence in place.
- pedalpete 1y agoWhen I saw that, I assumed it was www.halterhq.com, which is out of NZ, but I came across them (I think) at Tech23. I'm former CSIRO, and I knew there was virtual fencing tech that came out of CSIRO, I had always assumed it was Halter.
- amelius 1y agoDifferent solution: just release some turtles on the river bed. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4_cS4Nf47jM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4_cS4Nf47jM
- sharklasers123 1y agoPretty awesome tech, virtual fencing with noise and vibration, assume this is using https://www.halterhq.com https://www.halterhq.com. It can even be used to get them to walk to the shed for milking, or virtual break fencing
- tordasnes 1y agoFrom the pictures is looks like they're using https://www.nofence.no/en/ https://www.nofence.no/en/
- MarkusWandel 1y agoDunno, once upon a time the low tech solution was... a fence.
- is_true 1y agoThere's another "low tech" solution. Just pump the water to a safe place. You can even create an area with sprinklers activated by movement.
- _joel 1y agoFences require maintenance too, especially near rivers. Plus these aren't traditionally farmed cattle, so there's that.
- metalman 1y agoyes, true, my niehbors have a biodynamic farm with cattle, but the farm dogs has decided to start monitering the activity on all the adjacent farms.....quite odd hound dog....and so has been fittedwith a gps collar, which is proving to be just further distraction....as the dog is supper cagey, and silent....except when going into full hound dog baying mode....checks the road both ways...and slinks off if there is traffic....only darts accross when it's all clear. There was a full robot dairy farm up the road, but they sold there quota....likely retiring to somewhere exotic.
- mbeavitt 1y agoThe historical reason is that canals were originally built to facilitate horse-drawn boats, and as such there are no fences. The modern reason is that people use the canals all day, for hopping on/off houseboats and rowing training - putting up fences just for a few cows would make many people upset. FYI, I live right next to this area and it's almost as central as you can get in Cambridge, so it's super busy - people and cyclists coming through this field all the time, including myself. There are plenty of fences around the roads and land borders of the commons, but it's just the canals that have these special uses that require a lack of fences. https://maps.app.goo.gl/PifHtYpg1u2SfojF9 https://maps.app.goo.gl/PifHtYpg1u2SfojF9
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- jll29 1y agoThats for posting about "cow GPS" just as I was looking for further examples for "geofencing" for a book I am writing, apart from FourSquare. ;-)
- aa-jv 1y agoOne of the great things about Cambridge, besides its bookstores and libraries, are all the green spaces. Every time I visit (for synth-diy, mostly) .. I take a few hours and stroll along the cam, and through the city, and just .. enjoy the space. Even though it is a busy and industrious little town, one can find a tree to park under and read for a few hours and thoroughly enjoy the environment. And yes, occasionally get interrupted by a curious bovine or two. Also, you haven't lived until you've fallen off a punt or so, or at least enjoyed the view of others doing it while sipping on some suds at Granta on Mill Pond. Bonus points for bonking ones noggin on the Mathematical Bridge while you're at it. I really get a feeling that the city was set up for idle thought by the studious and curious. No surprise that it loves its cows too.
- josefritzishere 1y agoNobody knows how to build a fence in Cambridge?
- parkersweb 1y agoAh - I live just a half mile from these fields. It’s one of the historical quirks of the city; lots of common land open to the public, grazed by cows. Although there’s fencing on other boundaries of the grazing land it simply isn’t practical to fence off the river - and as someone who also rows on the river I usually see a cow in the water at least once a year, so it’ll be interesting to see if they work!
- krisoft 1y agoThe only potential problem I can see is that the out-of-hours pinder service is not paid per callout, but paid to be ready to be called out. So if the new corals just reduce the number of callouts but not completely eliminate them you will still need to pay for both the service and the corals too.
- Elaris 1y agoThis technology is really interesting and practical! The idea of using GPS collars to prevent cows from walking into dangerous areas is so smart. This is a perfect combination of technology and traditional agriculture. It not only reduces the risk of death of cows, but also saves rescue costs and is even good for the environment. This also makes me think of a question: Can similar technology be applied to other fields, such as wildlife conservation? Many endangered species are now threatened with extinction, and technology like this may play a very important role in protecting them. If it can help prevent animals from entering dangerous areas or better monitor their activities, it may bring great breakthroughs to conservation work.
- 0x073 1y agoCan similar technology be applied to other fields? Children maybe every human
- fewdaysto2025 1y ago[dead]
- cAtte_ 1y agothis is the third slop machine I see today, inconspicuously hiding among genuine comments. mods please do something about this <3