Nofence, the world’s first commercial virtual fencing system, is revolutionising agriculture and livestock management, enhancing animal welfare through innovation.
Every day, farmers dedicate countless hours to building, repairing, and maintaining fences to manage livestock – a physically demanding and time-consuming task that can create stress for both farmers and animals.
Now, a groundbreaking innovation is transforming livestock management with animal welfare at its core. Developed by farmers for farmers, Nofence’s virtual fencing technology streamlines operations and improves productivity by offering an innovative and animal-friendly solution. By eliminating the need for physical barriers, this cutting-edge system reduces the risk of injury, minimises the stress associated with handling, and allows livestock to graze more freely, promoting better health and wellbeing.
Advanced technology for smarter farming
Nofence’s virtual fencing system revolves around two key components: solar-powered collars and a user-friendly app. The collars, worn by livestock, use GPS to establish and enforce virtual boundaries defined by farmers. These boundaries can be created and adjusted easily through the Nofence app, offering exceptional flexibility. Whether it’s providing access to new pastures or excluding sensitive areas, this technology allows farmers to adapt grazing zones with just a few taps.
The app’s intuitive interface allows farmers to track livestock movements in real time, receive notifications if the boundaries have been breached, and even access heat maps that reveal the animals’ grazing activities within the defined pastures. Malin Kildal, Software Developer at Nofence, has been instrumental in creating its user-friendly interface. Kildal said: “We focused on making the technology as accessible as possible for farmers. You see that their mind [the farmers] is at ease just by knowing where their animals are.”
Animal welfare at the centre of innovation
Animal welfare is at the heart of Nofence’s business. When animals approach the defined boundary, the system issues a series of audio cues that increase in pitch as they get closer. If the animal continues forward, it receives a mild electric pulse – half the intensity of those emitted by traditional electric fences. The system relies on precise satellite positioning, ensuring that all animals receive audio cues and electric pulses at the same point of the virtual boundary.
To help the animals familiarise themselves with the new environment, they are initially trained to wear the collars in a controlled training pasture. This area is enclosed by physical fences on three sides, with the fourth side marked by a virtual boundary, ensuring the animals’ first interaction with the system is gradual.
During the training, which takes around five to ten days, depending on various factors like age and breed, the acoustic signal’s pitch increases as the animals approach the boundary, prompting them to change direction. This process requires each animal to interact 20 times with the virtual boundary, receiving the acoustic warning and responding positively, such as by turning away or not moving forward. This reinforces natural grazing habits and minimises stress as animals learn to associate the sound with the need to change direction, ensuring that the integration of the collars supports the animal’s wellbeing.
Most animals quickly adapt to the system and rarely receive the electric pulse after the initial training phase – with the acoustic warning versus electric pulse ratio being 96%. Moreover, Nofence provides comprehensive support to ensure the system operates effectively, providing onboarding videos and manuals, proactive data-based insights, and assistance. This approach ensures high standards of animal welfare at all times, supported by Nofence’s global monitoring of collar performance to ensure optimal functionality.
The natural behaviour of herd synchrony further enhances this learning process. Farm animals are highly social: once a few individuals learn to respond correctly, their behaviour influences the entire herd. Studies have shown that when most animals react similarly to the audio cues, it not only indicates that the system is working but also that the environment is stable and stress-free.
Nofence has collaborated with research institutions from Europe and North America that have gathered data that shows predictable and controllable environments minimise stress responses, ensuring that virtual fencing does not compromise animal welfare.
John Smout, Market Development Director for Nofence, explained: “With Nofence, animals learn to respond to audio cues rather than relying on visual barriers, reducing stress and the risk of injury. This not only simplifies livestock management but equips farmers with invaluable data on grazing patterns and animal movement to make informed decisions that support the health and wellbeing of their livestock.”
Safety is strengthened by live monitoring. If an animal remains stationary for more than four hours, the app immediately sends a notification to the farmer, alerting them of a potential risk. Similarly, if an animal crosses the boundary, its exact location is relayed in real-time, allowing farmers to intervene quickly, ensuring the animal’s health and safety. This not only prevents prolonged distress but also minimises the risk of injuries common with physical fences, such as entanglements or abrasions. Additionally, virtual fencing allows animals to escape predators freely, preventing them from becoming trapped in physical barriers and preventing serious injury or even death.
As Welsh farmer Emyr Owen has experienced managing a 7,000-acre organic farm with a rugged, remote landscape, the collars have allowed for precise control over his 500 cattle. Owen said: “Nine animals were misplaced in the upland block last winter. They couldn’t be rescued or located despite the assistance of 20 local farmers and multiple drones. With the help of our collars, these incidents are avoided, giving both the farmer and the local community well-deserved time back.”
Revolutionising natural grazing practices
At its core, Nofence is about more than just livestock management – it is about reconnecting animals with the land that mirrors their natural behaviours. Traditional fencing restricts movement and disrupts instinctive grazing patterns, while set-stocking methods can lead to overgrazing, soil degradation, and increased costs. Virtual fencing removes these barriers, allowing livestock to graze in a way that aligns with their natural behaviours while ensuring the land is regenerated and biodiversity flourishes.
By enabling precise, real-time adjustments to grazing boundaries, Nofence supports managed rotational grazing practices – an approach that mimics how animals would naturally move in the wild. Without the physical constraints of traditional fencing, animals are safer as the risk of entanglement and injury is significantly reduced. Meanwhile, farmers gain peace of mind knowing their livestock are grazing freely in a controlled and sustainable way.
In conservation areas, such as nature reserves and restoration projects, where physical fencing is impractical, Nofence opens up new possibilities for regenerative grazing. Livestock can be used to restore underutilised land, improve biodiversity and enhance soil health – all while maintaining the integrity of natural habitats. By working with nature rather than against it, Nofence is helping to shape a future where livestock farming is both sustainable and animal-friendly.
The real-world impact
For farmers who have adopted Nofence’s virtual fencing technology, the benefits are clear. James Waight, a livestock farmer on Salisbury Plain in southern England, has been using the system for five years. He said: ‘’It is so easy. It gives us more time to focus on family life, improve animal welfare, and plan herd management. Instead of constantly putting up fence posts and racing against the clock, we can dedicate our time to more productive tasks.’’
Additionally, Waight’s veterinarian has observed a noticeable improvement in the body condition score (BCS) of the virtually fenced cattle compared to those in pastures with physical fences, further supporting the positive impact on animal welfare.
Further North, Donald McSween, a crofter in Ness on the Isle of Lewis, Scotland, has witnessed first-hand the transformative impact of Nofence. He said: “Nofence has been a game-changer. There’s no stress anymore. I know where my cattle are at all times.” Nofence has allowed him, and other farmers like him, to increase his herd and reduce the costs relating to feed and labour.
McSween and Waight’s experiences exemplify how virtual fencing not only streamlines livestock management but also fosters healthier animals, revitalised pastures, and enhanced biodiversity, creating benefits that extend across and beyond the farm.
The future of livestock management
Nofence’s virtual fencing technology is reshaping modern agriculture by uniting innovative control with a commitment to animal welfare. By teaching livestock to navigate invisible boundaries through gentle conditioning and real-time monitoring, the system minimises stress and reduces injuries, providing real benefits to livestock and wildlife.
At the same time, the technology prioritises animal welfare by enabling more natural and adaptive grazing. Quick and easy pasture adjustments not only lead to more efficient operations and significant savings but also enhance biodiversity, supporting healthier animals and a thriving ecosystem.
Nofence represents an approachable solution that bridges the gap between technological innovation and sustainable farming practices. Prioritising animal welfare alongside efficiency ushers in a future in which agriculture is not only more productive but also more compassionate, environmentally conscious, and better equipped to meet the challenges of feeding a growing global population.
About Nofence
Founded in Norway in 2011 by goat farmer Oscar Hovde, Nofence is the world’s first commercial virtual fencing system for livestock, serving as a sustainable alternative to traditional fencing. The animals’ grazing areas are managed using a GPS collar, which communicates with an app using a mobile network. When the animals cross the virtual boundary, an escalating acoustic warning is played. If they ignore the sound, they will get a light electrical pulse. The animals learn this quickly during their training period of five to ten days, depending on variables like the breed and the age of the animal. The collars can be bought online at nofence.no/uk.
The company’s virtual fences have increased in popularity since its pilot customers first began using it in Norway in 2016, with the company recently surpassing 150,000 collars sold across Europe – a strong testament to the success of the new technology. Nofence has over 70 employees worldwide, and they are distributed between Norway, the UK, Ireland, Spain, and the United States.
Please note, this article will also appear in the 21st edition of our quarterly publication.
