Virtual fencing collars reshape grazing and animal welfare at Te Mania Angus

Te Mania Angus was one of the first Victorian beef operations to put virtual fencing collars on cattle once the technology was approved for use in the state earlier this year, and four months on, the decision has changed the way it operates, in ways it couldn't fathom at the time. 

The stud runs mobs of up to 150 bulls and Halter has been the key to mastering "very frequent rotational grazing".

"We run contemporary groups in order to maintain similar environmental conditions for a whole group of bulls that are born together," Te Mania Angus Stud Manager Edward Gubbins said. "We've got eight mobs now and it's just logistically not feasible to move them two or three times a day with strip tapes and Halter has allowed us to do that."

Mr Gubbins estimates it would take two people full-time just running strip tapes to achieve the same results, which meant that labour hours could be redirected into other higher value tasks - and keep staff happy as well.

"We also have just found that the way that we can influence their grazing behaviour by using the collars has meant that the bulls are way better at utilising feed than than they normally are. They're  quite picky and they might just go through a normal paddock and just pick out the sweet stuff and then start to fight each other and carry on. Whereas with Halter, we're just finding that the paddocks are getting utilised a lot better," he said.

They can also utilise areas that didn't previously have good fencing infrastructure in place, avoid wet areas and even keep animals away from certain dams or waterways. 

Rumination data adds an early warning system

Te Mania is using Halter's Beef Pro fertility and health features, which track rumination alongside lying, standing, walking and grazing behaviour. A drop in rumination shows up before an animal starts losing weight, giving the team an earlier signal to act on than weight loss alone.

"We can actually start to influence their grazing on their rumination performance, so when they start to drop on rumination, we give them fresh feed," Mr Gubbins said.

That data has already changed how the stud allocates paddocks to younger bulls, after it found their rumination rates dropped faster than expected on certain pastures.

"We can't push them on certain pastures as hard as we normally would, because their rumination starts to drop and their weight gain is affected, even over a 24 to 48-hour period," Mr Gubbins said. "We're better off putting heifers or cows in after the bulls to chew it to the level we want."

Longer term, Te Mania wants to compare that grazing behaviour data against feed conversion figures collected through its Vytelle system, to test whether there is a genetic link between how an animal grazes and how efficiently it converts feed.

The stud is also using oestrus detection data to study how quickly cows return to cycling after calving, an area where fertility phenotypes used in genetic evaluation are currently based on lower-accuracy measures.

Precision drafting cuts yarding time

Individual animal selection has removed some of the more time-consuming jobs on the property. Mr Gubbins recently split a 300 head mob in half by individual collar without the need to yard them.

He also needed to draft 38 cows who were close to calving from a larger recipient mob - and the cows did it themselves while he was sleeping.

"I selected them, left the gate open and basically told Halter they could leave," he said. "The next morning, there they were, out of the mob."

It was low stress for the producer and the cattle, which is important at Te Mania.

Welfare and training

Keeping bulls settled was a key motivation behind the investment, given the injury risk when mobs of bulls fight. Mr Gubbins said the results so far had been positive.

"We've had pretty good results with keeping them content," he said.

Training uses a physical strip tape 5m back from the virtual line for the first four to five days, giving animals a visual cue to pair with the sound and pulse from the collar before the tape is removed. Mr Gubbins said even naturally flighty young bulls adapted quickly.

"The way that they've utilised some incredible algorithms and have been involved in the training is amazing because it's all very conducive to the animal psychology. It's pretty amazing," he said.

It was this utilisation of animal psychology and the potential for keeping bulls more content - from optimising feed and lowering their stress - and with less injuries that drew the Te Mania team to Halter.

Mr Gubbins said it was performing in this area.

Te Mania has 1000 head collared at the moment, including about 200 recipient and donor heifers, on 8,000 acres at Mortlake with just three towers.

And there's plenty more he is keen to explore such as preg testing cattle and creep feeding calves for impressive weaning weights.

Potential immediate returns for improvement in bull performance enticed them to participate. "But really, the icing on the cake for us and me personally is the data behind it that we can use to make breeding decisions down the track," Mr Gubbins said.

A track record of early adoption

Halter is not Te Mania's first move into ag tech ahead of the rest of the industry. Heifers have worn activity-monitoring collars for heat detection across three generations, and the stud is among a small number of Angus seed stock operations investing in Vytelle net feed intake technology, despite it being one of the more expensive traits to record.

"We like to take a bit of a punt on new concepts that potentially benefit us and the industry, take it on early and find out if there's any potential in it," Mr Gubbins said.

Halter Territory Manager, Travis McKenzie, who works closely with Te Mania, said the whole team had embraced the technology from day one.

"Te Mania is using the Beef Pro data insights to find breeding efficiencies that one day could help their clients and the wider beef industry," Mr McKenzie said.

"One of the coolest things has been the buy-in across the entire team. Everyone has got behind the technology, which has made the rollout seamless and set them up to get the most out of it.

"It’s been awesome learning from the Te Mania team. Seeing them drafting cattle in the paddock and hearing their feedback has been rewarding, and we’re even more excited about what’s to come as they continue to unlock the full potential of the technology."

Spring sale shakeup

Te Mania will offer 95 lots at its Northern Springs Bull Sale on August 11, interfaced with AuctionsPlus.

"There's a fair bit of punch in this group from a growth performance point of view, but underlying that is our industry-leading carcase and marbling merit, as well as strong fertility throughout the group," Mr Gubbins said.

The stud is also launching its inaugural Southern Spring Sale on September 15, offering 59 two-year-old bulls from the same cohort as the northern sale's draft, including for the first time a small number of bulls previously used as joining sires in Te Mania's own breeding program. 

"We think it's conducive to a fairly big shift in operational management for people down south moving more towards spring joining," Mr Gubbins said.