FoA 246: Unlocking Grazing Potential with Virtual Fencing

<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Today Janette Barnard co-hosts to bring us an innovative virtual fencing product for cattle ranchers. Frank Wooten joins us as the founder of</span> <a href= "http://vence.io"><span style= "font-weight: 400;">Vence</span></a><span style= "font-weight: 400;">. Vence offers producers optionality in their grazing operations whether large or small. This technology provides for rotational grazing opportunities while bridging obstacles such as large uneven terrain, poor connectivity and weather dynamics. The ramifications of this opportunity may allow US producers to better compete in the grass fed and grass finished product market. </span></p> <p> </p> <p><strong><em>“At a high level we are solving the problem of increasing yield and land management for cow-calf and cattle operators around the world…..we are enabling the ability to set up animal control at a very granular level without the need for physical fences or manual labor.” - Frank Wooten</em></strong></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“It’s not that physical fences are an insufficient solution. It's that they are a static solution to a dynamic problem.” To be able to adapt your ranching practices to changes in your land and terrain allows for more flexibility and improved land stewardship. “There are more livestock on the planet than there are cars on the road” leading to their management and land use being of the utmost significance. Producers would be able to access the location of their animals and schedule their proposed movement to best suit their needs. </span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The cattle become trained to the sound emitted by individual collars to be able to know where they can move without stimulating an electric shock. GPS chip technology and a tower built at a high location makes cell coverage not an issue for producers to connect with their animals.  Only the tower itself needs cell coverage. Each collar then communicates with their assigned tower like a walkie-talkie.