With the aim of farming smarter and not harder a group of six farmers across Wales are investigating how using tracking technology can help prevent these problems.Four of the farmers are sheep producers on the Brecon Beacons, and share common summer grazing up on the mountain. One farmer grazes the Kenfig coastal reserve near Margam, Port Talbot with cattle. The final farmer undertakes conservation grazing on land in North Wales. Livestock tracking technology is a new concept to extensive grazing animal systems in the UK and this project is the first of its kind here in Wales.
For this project, a single emitting device plus a battery is housed in a collar that is around the animal’s neck. These collars ‘"talk’ to a gateway box located in the area which has internet access and send information to the farmers’ smart phones or devices.
It aims to assess the proportion of the flock required to be "collared" to get useful data. It could potentially reduce gathering time and costs, minimise the risk of theft, help identify ill animals, and gain a better understanding of grazing habits.
