Halter enters beef farm market: virtual fencing to boost efficiency and production

Halter, the world’s leading virtual fencing provider, has launched to beef farmers, enabling transformational pasture grazing practices that directly increase efficiency and productivity.

The expansion follows Halter’s rapid growth and impact in the dairy market.  The new virtual fencing product - Halter Base™ - will increase pasture utilisation, pasture quality and therefore farm profitability.

Pasture utilisation on beef farms ranges from 40-70%, compared to 80-90% in dairy systems. Halter founder and CEO Craig Piggott says Halter will allow more beef farms to adopt more efficient ‘rotational grazing’ in a cost-effective, unconstrained way.  

“Rotational grazing is proven to be better for grass regrowth and quality, with daily allocations and back-fencing preventing overgrazing or undergrazing and optimising feed intake.

“But, historically, adoption of rotational grazing on beef farms has been limited given the expensive fencing infrastructure and time intensive labour involved. Virtual fencing can unlock this grazing best practice, including on hill country terrain that has been difficult to farm efficiently.

“It’s well known that rotational grazing with beef cattle on two daily shifts can significantly improve grazing efficiency and productivity per ha, compared with extensive systems - and virtual fencing gives this flexibility with no extra fencing infrastructure or labour.”

This optimal style of pasture management can drive profitability - through increased liveweight, improved calving, higher calf weaning weights, and, for sheep and beef farms, improved sheep performance due to the pasture grooming role cattle perform.

Piggott says many beef farmers have been “watching and waiting” for Halter.

“Beef farmers have told us virtual fencing could be the most transformational change the industry has seen. They’re imagining how this could unlock vast areas of unutilised pasture and leverage that land to help counter industry headwinds.

“It’s a huge leap forward, and the production and sustainability gains our first customers are expecting are fairly profound.”

Northland hill-country farmer and former Beef and Lamb New Zealand Chair James Parsons owns a 600ha Angus stud farm and is one of Halter’s first beef customers. He says the system is a ‘game-changer’.

“Effortless rotational grazing on hill country beef farms is an untapped lever for achieving more sustainable and profitable production; Halter is a technology that can make best practice possible and bring hill country farming into a new era,” says Parsons.

“Within our first month, cows have been trained and are now on daily shifts. Uncollared calves are creep-grazing ahead of mum, which we anticipate will bring a significant jump in weaning weight. This was impossible to achieve even with expensive conventional fencing.”

Virtual fencing will also help to better protect soils, increase soil carbon sequestration to reduce net emissions, retire unutilised land without reducing stocking rate, and protect waterways and native biodiversity via stock exclusion - at a time when costly new fencing regulations are coming into effect throughout New Zealand.  

Piggott says Halter’s expansion aims to help farms be more productive and sustainable, acknowledging that the growing global population, rising middle-class and demand for protein will see beef farms in major producing countries play a significant supply role.

“Traditional continuous grazing has lower efficiency and cannot sustain the forecasted food demand, so rotational grazing that unlocks greater productivity is fast becoming a necessity.

“This beef system costs half of our full dairy package, because it is simpler than our dairy system.”

Beef farmers interested in Halter Base™ can visit halterhq.com/beef

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Notes to editors

• The Halter Base™ virtual fencing system allows beef farmers to precisely utilise pasture and rotationally graze on hill-country contours. Location heat-maps show areas grazed intensely and 24/7 GPS monitoring gives oversight of cattle.
• Initial value modelling by AgFirst Northland Consultant James Parsons predicts growing 6.5t/DM/ha and utilising 59% on an extensive hill country farm when using Halter. This could achieve a 21% uplift in pasture utilisation and one tonne increase in dry matter production through better grazing management, by the second year. Combined, this equates to an improved gross margin of $348/ha assuming $0.16/KGDM gross margin.
• The Halter Base™ system costs $96 / collar / year.
• Halter has nearly doubled its customer base in 12 months - continuing investment in precision pasture innovation for pasture farmers in New Zealand and Tasmania.

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Images

Available for download via Dropbox here.

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Available for interview

• Craig Piggott - Founder and CEO, Halter
• James Parsons - Northland beef farmer, AgFirst Consultant

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Media contact

Ashleigh Gilchrist - Communications Lead, Halter

021 236 8324

ashleigh.gilchrist@halter.co.nz