h a l f b a k e r yWhy did I think of that?
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In the barren wastes of USA or Oztralia, thousands of miles of fences need to be put up and maintained to keep cattle and sheep in. Expensive and time consuming.
My notion is to have the bull or ram wearing a GPS receiver which is attached to a shock device or other aversive stimulus.
The
GPS is then programmed to activate the device and stop the cow/sheep going further whenever it goes to or past where the real fence would have been - in effect a virtual fence. This would save a fortune in fencing costs and maintenance.
(less usefully, it could be used with cats and dogs to stop them going to next door or on the road chasing cars). An anti-barking collar which puffs a lemon smell already works pretty well. Like with the cows or sheep, it's the immediate "negative reinforcement" (OK, punishment) that counts.)
Instant Fence
http://www.technosc...te=85393&sourceid=0
Sort of Baked. Lots more halfbaked ideas at this site too. [hippo, Dec 12 2001, last modified Oct 04 2004]
[link]
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PeterSealy: Baked as written though, with the GPS and
everything? |
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A potential problem would be the amount of labor
required to regularly track down all the cattle and
replace the batteries in the shock devices. |
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Since flocks of sheep are prone to run off cliffs when startled, I don't think charging through a region of electric pain would necessarily make them turn back. In such a situation, keeping on running might be more rational if no one's explained about a fence to you. |
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Electric fences act as a physical barrier as well as a deterrent. Without that form of instruction/explanation, the sheep could easily just choose to charge on, bleating a lot. It'd make the Silence of the Lambs sound like, well, silence. |
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What's the cost of these things? We had about 11,000 head of cattle on the three places we owned. |
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Beef cattle are not a terribly profitable product. Processing costs are measured to thousandths of cents per kilo, to ensure returns are maximised on a kill of 5,000 head per week. Adding this cost to the equation will make the owner of these animals extremely uncompetitive, forcing him/her out of business. |
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Fences cut down on intermingling of herds. Having someone else's stock on your place means they consume your feed and water. They also cost time to identify, draught out of the herd and return to their rightful place. |
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These fences are going to break down sometimes. There was about 140 miles of fences on one of the places, which was 229,000 acres. When the fence isn't working, stock will just walk away... they have no concept of home, just water. |
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It hasn't been done, Peter. All the ways that work for dogs and cats require either a physical wire to be put down that gives off the trigger signal. Hippo's link to 'instant fence' is an antenna that gives out a signal that keeps the collar from zapping, until they get out of range. Neither of which are what he posted. |
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As pottedstu says, though, the physical barriers are necessary too. I doubt a little 'zzt would stop a stampede... |
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