“No fence collars are beneficial for all!”
This guest blog post is written by Murdanie, a crofter on the Isle of Lewis who is using No Fence Collars to help manage his croft. In this post he explores the benefits he has seen from using this technology – both for himself and biodiversity.
Back in February this year, the Scottish Crofting Federation held a two-day workshop in Carloway, Isle of Lewis. These workshops are there to encourage networking, the spread of ideas and different methods of doing things. It helps crofters to engage with organisations and stakeholders involved in crofting and promote the care and protection of the environment.
One of the talks given was by Emma Stobart (Bumblebee Conservation Trust) who is the Project Officer for the Species on the Edge programme in Lewis and Harris. She told us that they were looking for people with cows who would be interested in using No Fence Collars to improve grasslands to benefit biodiversity, in particular some of Scotland’s most vulnerable species that can still be found in the Outer Hebrides. I already had no fence collars for some of my cows, but by going into partnership with Species on the Edge I was able to get six more, meaning that all my cows now had a No Fence Collar. I also helped advise another crofter in the area looking to start. Species on the Edge now has over 40 collars in use throughout the Outer Hebrides.
What are No Fence Collars?
Some readers may not be familiar with NoFence collars (this is a brand type – other types are on the market). Some viewers of An Lot will be familiar with this technology. These are GPS enabled collars which are worn by the cow so it can be tracked and placed in virtual paddocks. This works by creating the virtual paddocks on an app and it is uploaded onto the collar. If the cow approaches the boundary, an audible sound is produced with increasing pitch and volume until it reaches the boundary then an electric pulse (about a 3rd the strength of an electric fence) is administered. The cows learn very quickly to about turn if they hear the tone so they rarely receive a pulse.
Why use No Fence Collars?
We have a few cows and we out-winter them (not in barns) which is tough with the winters we get: lots of mud, loads of silage and concentrate feed. A few years ago we started using Nofence UK collars to monitor our cattle and allow them to use unfenced areas, common grazings, and exclude boggy ground. There is an additional benefit we did not envisage: environmental improvement!
A lot of folk talk down cows and think they are damaging, but by clearing unused crofts/ chocked grassland, they allow grass and flowers to come through which is good for a range of species, including bees. Cow dung also attracts insects which in turn attracts birdlife. By grazing the land, the deer do not want to encroach as near (in the old days when there was a lot of sheep and cows grazing the deer rarely ventured off the moor). It also means the cows have a much more natural life by rotating round grasslands (we walk them between fields).
There is also visible improvement of the ground after cows have been there. Last year we had them grazing on Airidhantium Common over part of the winter and the impact in the spring was vast: a great abundance of green grass and flowers. We also graze a croft which is side by side with an ungrazed croft and the difference between the two is really notable.
Emma also provided us with some wild-flower seed mix. She and some volunteers raked the seed mix into the ground in May and over the summer we have had plenty and a variety of flowers and bees to show for their efforts.
All in all, the No Fence Collars are beneficial for all! Less feed, more used crofts, more wildlife, no mechanical topping, healthier cattle, and healthier land. We are hoping to identify and graze more areas around where we live over this coming winter.
