The Cyber Cow Whisperer and His Virtual Fence - Dean M. Anderson

Agricultural Research, Nov, 2000 by Don Comis

Some call Dean M. Anderson Sky Rider, but he's really a Cyber Cow Whisperer.

His colleagues call him Sky Rider because he rounds up cattle with the help of Global Positioning System (GPS) signals coming from satellites.

But his prototype locator/controller cow collar also whispers electronic versions of the cowboy's "gee" (go right) and "haw" (go left) into the cow's ears. By controlling movement, the whispered commands act as a virtual fence.

"Cows can seem ornery if they don't do what we want them to do," says Anderson, an ARS animal scientist in Las Cruces, New Mexico. "After all, they still have some wildness in them from their prehistoric ancestors, aurochs." These wild oxen once roamed Earth freely. They stood 6 feet tall and were the subject of many a cave painting, along with wooly mammoths and bison.

Anderson is a longtime student of using cattle's innate behaviors to manage them in a kinder, more effective, and gentler way. He has automated the husbandry principles of better-known practitioners of low-stress animal management, such as Bud Williams, Burt Smith, Temple Grandin, and Buck Brannaman, the real Horse Whisperer, played by Robert Redford in a movie of the same name.

Anderson also teaches low-stress animal-handling concepts, such as how to control cows by invading and retreating from their personal space.

"You can make a cow move in different directions depending on where you stand, or by the direction, angle, and speed of your approach," he says. "The virtual fence uses electronically generated cues instead of a person to achieve the same effect."

Hands-Off Cattle Drivers

Anderson oversees his "sky-riding" research from a pickup truck. He gives the cows their marching orders with a manually operated signal transmitter, which looks like a remote control for toy airplanes and cars. Anderson says manual control is necessary in the research-and-development phase, but eventually his virtual fence will be completely automatic, with all signals coming from satellites. Ranchers will be free to have their morning coffee while they check their computers to see their cows' movements over the past few days and then program future meanderings.

Anderson says that the patented invention won't replace resource managers or the cowboys who ride the range, but it will help them accomplish their goals by working on "animal time."

"Animal time is preferable to human clocks when managing cows and their behaviors. This reduces stress for both the cowboys and the cows."

Traditionally, cowboys and ranchers rise before the cows and then wake the cows up to move them to another pasture. Balky cows often stand stubbornly between the ranchers and a second cup of coffee, not to mention the rest of their busy schedules. If the electronic whisper is used correctly, it can lower the stress of these cattle roundups.

Anderson explains: "It is desirable to administer the sound cues when the animal is moving. As a foraging animal approaches a virtual fence line and passes a programmed point, it activates sound cues to the animal's right or left side. Software in the device mathematically determines to which side the cues should be applied, based on the animal's angle of approach to the virtual fence line. Since animals tend to move away from startling sounds, if we want the animal to move left, we'd give the cues to the right side, and vice versa."

First, Get Their Attention

The initial sound cues are soft, although they can get louder if the animal continues to move without changing direction. At another predetermined point, a mild electrical shock--also capable of increasing in intensity, if needed--is applied from a battery on the collar to reinforce the sound. The shock is the same as that given off by electronic collars used to train dogs or keep them within safe boundaries. It's designed to get the animal's attention without inflicting physical harm. Preliminary research indicates it's seldom necessary to use the electric shock, or even raise the decibels, once cows learn the consequences of not responding appropriately. It takes only a few times for them to learn the correct response.

"If a cow's too stubborn to go the way we want it to go, even after a full set of sound and shock treatments, we leave it alone so we don't put unwarranted stress on it," Anderson says. "Remember, we're manipulating animal behavior, and a one-size-fits-all approach is simply not realistic."

He plans to attach heart monitors to some cows before proceeding much further, to quantitatively document the physiological impact the cues have on the animals.

"I don't think it stresses the animals unduly because many times I've seen them resume grazing shortly after being startled by a signal. The only difference is that afterward they're facing the desired direction," Anderson says.

Livestock Can Shape Landscapes

So why move a cow at all? One reason is to provide animals with enough high-quality forage to meet their nutritional needs.

"Improved testing technologies allow us to determine--in minutes rather than days--exactly what the animal has been eating. This information allows us to respond immediately in managing their needs, and the virtual fence can rapidly guide the animals to new areas of forage." Anderson says.