Written by Wyatt Bechtel
Grazing one species of livestock comes with plenty of management. Implementing multispecies grazing with four different species is not on the table for many producers because of how complicated, labor-intensive and resource-intensive it is. But with virtual fencing, multispecies grazing is becoming a little less burdensome for a Kentucky-Tennessee border farm.
In the rolling hills of southern Kentucky and northern Tennessee, Greg Brann had been looking for alternatives to electric fencing for his beef cattle, dairy cows, goats and sheep in his multispecies grazing program that spans two farm sites in both states. Brann owns Big Spring Farm near Adolphus, Ky., with his wife, Debbie, where they market grass-fed beef, lamb, wool and dairy directly to consumers. He is also a grazing consultant providing regenerative agricultural recommendations to benefit soil, microbes, plant and animal health.
“We’ve got hands in everything,” Brann says.
The makeup of Big Spring Farm’s multispecies grazing program includes:
- 165 Red Angus, Mashona and South Poll crossbred beef cows
- 18 Jersey dairy cows
- 40 grass-finished beef cattle
- 70 goats
- 140 sheep
Time and labor saver
Because Brann is so busy, he liked the idea of using virtual fencing to reduce his labor and get more time back by not having to build fence and move livestock. He started using virtual fencing collars from Nofence with his dairy herd and saw immediate results.
“With the labor and time savings, I figured that if it could save five hours per week, then it would pay for the collars in a year,” Brann says. “Now, I think it saves about 10-12 hours per week, so it’s kind of a no-brainer on that one.”
He soon added collars on the goat herd and plans to put collars on the beef herd in the next few months because of the positive experience. The sheep will be the last group to receive collars.
“I can do more with those collars than I can do with a tractor,” he adds.
Setting up new grazing areas doesn’t take Brann nearly as long as he’d take daily to move his livestock before, and he can do multiple moves in a day if he wants. While it’s possible to set grazing areas remotely, Brann prefers to do so in person.
“Per group, it would just be no time at all to draw new pastures. Five to 10 minutes at the tops,” Brann says. “I do like to be in the field when I draw new grazing areas so I can see where I’m drawing the line.”
Using virtual fencing
Virtual fencing systems like Nofence use GPS-enabled collars to keep livestock within boundaries set by producers through a phone app. As an animal nears the boundary, the collar emits an audio cue. If the animal continues toward the boundary, it receives an electrical pulse as a deterrent.
Brann uses Nofence to put up a virtual back fence after three days of grazing an area so the dairy cattle or goats don’t get too tightly grouped.
“We let them graze for three days, then we put up the back fence to rest pasture and move forward to fresh forage,” Brann says. “Being able to draw grazing lines so the goats or cattle don’t get into a creek and still utilize all of the forage has been nice.”
The pastures at Big Spring Farm are a majority of Kentucky 31 fescue, along with other forages such as orchard grass, Johnson grass, Indiangrass, big bluestem and clover, so managing those resources is important to Brann. From the improvements in grazing that Brann is seeing so far, he expects to increase stocking rates by 20%. If the forage continues to do well, he could go up by 30-40%.
The tracking feature on the Nofence app is something he enjoys looking at to gather information and make adjustments to his grazing plans.
“Having the ability to do a herd replay in the Nofence app to see where the animals are going via an animated heat map is neat,” Brann says. “That’s my entertainment: looking at them on the phone and seeing their grazing distribution.”
Looking forward
The promise of virtual fencing has Brann excited for the future and the possibilities of what it can do for his operation and the industry.
“Producers with 30 cows, which is a typical herd size in the U.S., are the ones that could really benefit from the collars,” Brann says.
Benefits and features he looks forward to utilizing include:
- Calculating grazing days per acre for each pasture
- Monitoring movement more precisely
- Heat detection to improve reproduction
- Measuring and comparing management more easily to make improvements
“I do think that virtual fencing is a thing of the future,” Brann says. “There’s so much opportunity in virtual fencing. I can’t even see what all the opportunities are, so I’ve got to dream more.”
See how other U.S. producers are precisely managing land and livestock with Nofence at https://www.nofence.com/community/user-stories.
