Response of Maremmana cattle to virtual fencing for herd management during spring-summer grazing

Mediterranean agrosilvopastoral systems can provide fodder and alternative feed resources throughout the year. However, to fully exploit their potential, a rational management of grazing is impelling. The aim of the study was to test the feasibility of using Virtual Fencing (VF) to manage Maremmana cattle at pasture in an agro-forestry system. VF is a new technology based on GPS collars to manage animals by setting virtual boundaries. When the animals approach the fences, they receive an audio cue followed by a low electrical pulse, if animals cross over the fences. VF was tested in a pilot farm in Maremma (southern Tuscany, Italy) on 30 hectares composed of different feed resources (meadows, wood, corn crops after harvesting). The trial covered the spring and summer of 2021 (from May to September); the herd was led through 12 different VF areas (named from VF1 to VF12) according to seasonal biomass availability. From 26th June to 16th July animals were kept inside a physical fence due to operational needs, so the records related to VF6 and VF7 were discarded from the dataset. The number of audio cues (S), electrical pulses (Z) and their ratio (Z/S) were analysed to investigate the capacity of the animals to interact with the VF system correctly and safely in a real grazing management framework. The Z/S ratio was under 1 for every VFs, with the lowest value registered in VF10 (0.05) and the highest in VF12 (0.25). The maximum Z and S individually received were 21 Z in VF7 and 120 S in VF12, while the minimum was 0 for all the VFs, denoting individual variability in number and type of interaction within the herd. Z was significantly lower in VF4 than in VF1 (1.40vs0.61), while S remained similar. This showed that animals progressively learned to identify the exact location of the VF borders only relying on the sounds. The GPS tracking showed that animals remained within the assigned areas, few escapes were registered mainly in the hours immediately after VF changes and along the VF in wood