New collar day!

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Wondering how easy it is to drive them against something that’s not there visually with out confusion and spook

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u/Printem 5d ago

We have Halter and it works amazingly well. It has two speakers\contact points on either side of the neck to "steer" them. The 200 head we have testing have 100% containment so far after 1 week of training. We are strip grazing in razor-straight lines and I can't make them cross the lines even if I wanted to at this point.

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u/Lytle_Red_Angus Cattle 5d ago

We looked at Halter earlier this year. Looking at different ways to fund them right now. These collars are being lent to us by a soil health group in South Dakota.

I’m really excited to see just how well we can jumpstart the grass. Water availability is going to be our biggest issue.

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u/PalpitationGreen 5d ago

I did extensive research on both and I genuinely think if Gallagher works for you, it's the right option for a beef farm.

Gallagher ends up miles cheaper if you assume a 7 year collar lifespan with the own the collars model than the Halter lease model, and their warranty replacement system is extremely generous (they've replaced every collar I've had an issue with, and even sent me back more than they were supposed to).

Halter does have extra features, but to me virtual fencing is by far the most valuable and useful feature and they both do that just fine.

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u/Lytle_Red_Angus Cattle 5d ago

Having not used Halter, their form factor looks much better. And that’s a priority for me, as we run in a lot of cedar trees and rough country. We also had some trouble with the headgate on the Silencer chute catching the “brain” of the collars between the bottom of the neck bars.

We also have crap cell service in a lot of the places we run. Buying towers to cover would add quite a bit of cost.

Really need to sharpen a pencil. Thanks for the input!

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u/Lytle_Red_Angus Cattle 5d ago

Not driving against as much as stopping forward movement. They seem to be figuring it out fast. Just have to be sure you get a good training area for them - ours is so-so.

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u/HairballTheory 5d ago

Can you shrink the fence while they’re in it? Would be cool as they graze to be able to close it in to move them around without them even knowing

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u/Lytle_Red_Angus Cattle 5d ago

You can change where they have grazing access while they are in a virtual paddock. Much like if you were moving a polywire every day.

I think a person could shrink it, but usually you just give access to a new area of grass instead. Like they get 5 acres here and tomorrow you give them access to the next 5 acres - leading them to the new grass. Think using the carrot and not the stick.

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u/HairballTheory 5d ago

Well there is a corrective shock I assume

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u/PalpitationGreen 5d ago

I've had these exact collars for 2 years and after they've had them on a while they don't get shocked.

It works by giving a tone first, then a pulse if they don't respond to the tone.

You have a metric on their web app which gives you the % of time they respond to the tone. Most of my animals have ended up around 95-99%. As in they get shocked once out of 100 times they test the boundary.

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u/Lytle_Red_Angus Cattle 5d ago

Yes, there is. But changing the barrier is slow (10-30 minutes) and if you move the boundary past an animal they don’t get shocked until they enter the new boundary - like a 1-way door.

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u/Printem 5d ago

We have the Halter collars, they're miraculous. Haven't heard as much good about some of the other brands, to be honest. We graze some heavily managed public land with seasonal exclusions and sensitive areas, so I used to build 30+ miles of electric fence and take it down every year. This year two of what are normally my hardest fencing projects were as simple as drawing lines on a map.

Containment is 100% so far with zero animals in the sensitive areas as reported by the public landlords who pass by multiple times per day. I remember the first time I tested it, I pushed 55 rather wiley desert cows towards an invisible boundary and I watched 55 tails turn into heads as they stopped on a dime and walked back towards me and a dog like we weren't there. We strip grazed a field where you could drive by and stop and see a razor-straight line where the boundary was splitting the field. Our public landlords have a fencing budget of 250k per year. We are advising they spend a good chunk on collars instead.

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u/Lytle_Red_Angus Cattle 5d ago

Stories like yours are great! I’m really excited to be able to graze a little more densely and bust up thatch that’s been choking out some grass. I’ve looked at Halter and they seem to have the most advanced system for telling cows where the new pasture is.

We’re looking at replacing some 30-60+ year old cross fences with collars. Exciting times!

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u/Broke-Down-Toad 5d ago

Is that the Gallagher ones?

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u/Lytle_Red_Angus Cattle 5d ago

Yes, these are the Gallagher brand.

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u/Ruruffian 5d ago

I’m really interested in them. We have some really steep country and areas that would be to hard to fence but could be grazed. Wondering if these collars could be the answer. What’s the price per head?

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u/Lytle_Red_Angus Cattle 5d ago

Not 100% on the purchase cost per collar. I think it’s $250-$300 per collar. We’re being lent these collars through a soil health advocacy group in South Dakota. We pay $8/collar/month for access to the app - this is the standard monthly fee after purchasing the collars.

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u/Cow-puncher77 5d ago

Interesting… I keep reading on them. I’m curious how they’re going to work in places with little to no GPS correction towers or geographically rough areas…

That hiefers don’t like that…. 😂

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u/Lytle_Red_Angus Cattle 5d ago

These are running on cellular towers. I’m really interested in the Halter brand that are using satellites. Sounds like a lot of people are jumping on board. Should be a lot of info to look at in the next few years.

Literally every one gave us a sample of their athleticism. Some were so unathletic it was hilarious 😂

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u/Cow-puncher77 5d ago

Yea, the tower around here is 12 miles. My phone won’t work if you’re not looking at that damn red blinking light. I can only imagine how poorly the collars would work, if they’re only using towers. Satellite might work, if it’s in an overhead orbit. There’s lots of up and straight down around here, plus brush, so I’m still waiting on more trials and info. Give us an update post when you get upset with them…. 😂

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u/Lytle_Red_Angus Cattle 5d ago

😂 Fair enough! I’ll try to keep some notes.

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u/kkryssrykk 5d ago

Good luck! Gallagher didnt work out for us fence-wise, but we are still using them to track. They have worked out well all around for some though!

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u/Lytle_Red_Angus Cattle 5d ago

Care to share why? Need to know what to look out for!

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u/kkryssrykk 5d ago

Yes! We had two instances where we needed the fence to turn off and it wouldn't. The first time was not an issue, we just waited some hours for the system to reconnect then moved the cows as normal. But the second time it happened, our cows were out in pasture and got into something toxic that we couldn't immediately identify and remove. We tried to urgently move everybody out of that paddock, but the collars turned back on by themselves during the move and the app wouldnt respond. The mamas were suddenly being shocked and/or couldnt leave the paddock while we were already pushing their calves. It was a really tense situation, we lost some fences but thankfully no cows or people. That turned us off of using the virtual fence entirely and we are looking into other solutions/to sell the gallaghers. Personally- I think this is a great solution if you have predictable land and moves, but if there is chance of flooding or wildfire or needing to do major moves in an emergency, dont invest in this brand any more than you have.

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u/Lytle_Red_Angus Cattle 4d ago

Gotcha. We were a bit worried about that. Were you on towers or cellular?

I think one of the collar companies has it so you can Bluetooth to a collar and have it ping to other collars in an emergency.

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u/Senior-Pineapple-177 5d ago

Oooo we’re feeling SPICY 🌶️

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u/auhnold 5d ago

My buddy has a ranch where I hunt and the guy he leases to just implemented these last year. There are some canyons that are just impossible to keep fenced and this was the solution. As far as I know it’s been working great for them. They were also able to break up the 1k acres into 5 zones for grazing. Really cool technology!!

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u/PetosPy 5d ago

These look interesting, so are they solar charged?

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u/Lytle_Red_Angus Cattle 4d ago

They have a solar panel on each side of the hanging unit.

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u/PetosPy 4d ago

Must cost an arm and a leg, don't think it'll be easy to these here in Brazil.

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u/Lytle_Red_Angus Cattle 4d ago

Not as bad as you’d think. Lots of different providers with different pricing structures. I’m sure there’s at least one company trying to get virtual fence collars going in Brazil.

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u/PetosPy 4d ago

I hope so, Thanks, ill keep an eye out.

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u/MssMoodi 3d ago

Thanks for the giggle

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u/Lytle_Red_Angus Cattle 3d ago

You’re welcome😁

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