Application of Virtual Fencing for the management of Limousin cows at pasture during spring-summer season: preliminary results

Virtual Fencing (VF) represents a newly helpful technology to manage herd in extensive livestock systems. In VF system, traditional physical fences are replaced by virtual ones and, when the animals approach the boundaries, they receive a paired stimulus: an audio cue followed by a low electrical shock when animals are close to the virtual fences. If animals continue to walk forward, they receive a maximum of three consecutive low shocks, until they return to the virtual grazing area. The study aims are: i) to evaluate the animal’s ability to learn, and so, to avoid the aversive stimulus; ii) to evaluate the efficiency of the system to manage the herd within grazing areas virtually delimitated.