Project details
Status: Current
At a glance
- This project will assess the animal welfare implications of Halter’s virtual fencing and herding technology in commercial dairy systems.
- Through a series of on-farm assessments, targeted farmer surveys, and a pilot study of cow emotional state measure, the research will generate new insights into cow behaviour, health, and human-animal interactions under Halter management.
- The findings will contribute to scientific understanding of animal welfare regarding virtual based systems and support evidence-based decision making for the dairy industry.
- This project runs from July 2025 – September 2026.
Virtual fencing research at TIA
Learn more about TIA's virtual fencing research program and associated research projects.
Project background
Virtual fencing and herding technologies are becoming increasingly common in pasture-based dairy systems, offering new opportunities for grazing management, labour efficiency, and herd movement without the need for physical fences and reduced stockmanship.
Halter's collar-based technology uses audio cues and electrical stimuli to guide animal movement and facilitate virtual herding.
While the technology has demonstrated operational benefits, there is limited independent research evaluating its impacts on animal welfare under commercial farming conditions. Animal welfare encompasses physical health, behavioural expression, emotional state, and the quality of interactions between animals and people. Key welfare indicators such as lameness prevalence, cow movement and handling, human–animal relationships, and animals' emotional experiences have not yet been comprehensively assessed in commercial dairy systems using virtual fencing technology.
This project aims to address these knowledge gaps through a combination of farmer surveys, on-farm welfare assessments, and behavioural studies. The information generated will provide an evidence base to guide industry adoption of virtual fencing technologies while ensuring animal welfare remains central to innovation in dairy production.
Research questions
- What are the overall welfare implications of virtual fencing and herding technology in commercial pasture-based dairy farms?
- How do dairy farmers using Halter perceive the impacts of virtual fencing on animal welfare, behaviour, health, and management practices?
- Does the use of Halter technology influence lameness prevalence compare with conventional dairy farming systems?
- Does virtual herding affect cow flow, movement efficiency, and handling quality during routine farm operations?
- How does Halter management influence the human–animal relationship, including animal responses to human approach?
Project activities
- On farm assessments
On-farm assessments will be conducted on 46 commercial dairy farms across Tasmania including farms using Halter virtual technology as well as conventional dairy farms for comparison. The farms are matched as closely as possible for herd size, location, cooperate and privately owned, and all farms are spring calving systems.
- Locomotion (lameness assessments)
The entire milking herd will be scored using a validated 0–3 locomotion scoring system. The data will be used to estimate differences in lameness prevalence between management systems. Each farm will be assessed twice, once in spring and again in summer to allow for seasonal changes and the mating period. A Bayesian modelling framework will be used to combine farmer perceptions of lameness from the survey with observed locomotion scoring data. This approach allows prior expectations and field observations to be integrated to produce robust estimates of the likely effect of Halter technology on lameness prevalence under commercial conditions.
- Cow flow assessment
Cow movement from paddocks to the milking shed will be recorded using GoPro cameras positioned along farm laneways. Video footage will be analysed using both continuous and scan sampling methods to evaluate whether virtual herding influences ease of movement compared with conventional systems.
- Emotional state measures
The final component is a pilot study to investigate the feasibility of using Conditioned Place Aversion (CPA) testing to assess the emotional experiences of dairy cows in pasture-based systems. CPA has previously been used to assess animals' affective responses to procedures and experiences including disbudding, castration, transportation, social isolation and conspecific pain. The pilot study will determine whether CPA can be practically implemented on commercial dairy farms and whether it can provide insight into cows' emotional responses to virtual fencing and herding systems with a side by side comparison of electric fencing and stockman herding.
Together, these activities will provide a comprehensive assessment of physical, behavioural and emotional welfare outcomes associated with Halter technology in commercial dairy production systems.
Farmer survey
Acknowledgements:
We’d like to thank all the farms that agreed to be apart of this this study. We acknowledge the integral role your farm plays in making this research possible and deeply value the opportunity to work alongside you.
We’d also like to thank Stephanie Clarke, Joaquin Britos, Alana Bolton, George Williams, Lily Rawnsley, Rhiannon Cox and Olivia Cornes for their assistance in data collection for this study.