{"id":576237,"date":"2026-08-21T21:26:09","date_gmt":"2026-08-21T21:26:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/576237\/"},"modified":"2026-08-21T21:26:09","modified_gmt":"2026-08-21T21:26:09","slug":"virtual-fencing-collars-cut-farm-work-and-improve-safety-at-hawkes-bays-glenalvon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/576237\/","title":{"rendered":"Virtual fencing collars cut farm work and improve safety at Hawke\u2019s Bay\u2019s Glenalvon"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cWe came into it thinking about the labour-saving aspect and benefits for the stock, but the unexpected advantage has been the improved safety and increased productivity,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Before adopting the technology, Fairweather spent much of summer installing and shifting temporary fencing across the property.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would start mid-January and was clocking up thousands of steps a day tramping over the hills,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith that came a fair bit of falling, slipping down hills and then having to work on while nursing a sore knee or ankle.\u201d<\/p>\n

The long hours also took their toll.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would get to the end of the day, and it would feel like I had not achieved anything because there were still so many jobs to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said the collars were now saving five to seven hours of work a day by reducing the need to move fencing and stock.<\/p>\n

The technology has also improved grazing management, helping grass recover faster and increasing stocking rates.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have managed to implement a feature to improve safety on-farm, all while having a positive impact on farm performance and growth.\u201d<\/p>\n

Safer Farms ambassador Lindy Nelson said the Glenalvon experience reflected the findings of the organisation\u2019s white paper, Safer By Design: The Role of Technology in Farm Safety<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Launched at Fieldays, the paper explores how technology can remove agricultural risks before work even begins.<\/p>\n

\"TimTim Fairweather and Willie Lyons have been using Gallagher’s eShepherd virtual fencing collars for their herd.<\/p>\n

Nelson said Glenalvon underlined how, for widespread adoption, technology should be viewed as a tool for overall farm improvement, rather than a compliance burden.<\/p>\n

\u201cFarmers are more likely to invest in new systems when they also improve productivity, reduce workload, or make the farm run better.<\/p>\n

\u201cSafety matters, but it is usually one of several reasons for making a change.\u201d<\/p>\n

Life on Glenalvon<\/p>\n

Fairweather grew up on a sheep and beef station before taking on Glenalvon with Lyons in 2020, after a severe drought.<\/p>\n

That year, Lyons regained the lease of the property, which has been in his family for more than 100 years.<\/p>\n

Since then, the pair have redeveloped the stock water system, invested in water infrastructure, and redesigned the paddock layout. <\/p>\n

The farm was a finalist in the 2022 Ballance Farm Environment Awards.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we took it on, there was a lot of breeding stock and not much of a trade component, but now we have more of a trading operation with flexibility built in,\u201d Fairweather said.<\/p>\n

The farm had expanded from 480ha to 1090ha and recently took on its first full-time employee.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cWe came into it thinking about the labour-saving aspect and benefits for the stock, but the unexpected advantage…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":576238,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[2851,95,1975,7793,11164,138,67194,3588,268006,3233,12026,79211,283724,1976,15221,18845,283725,111,139,69,624,1336,1519,6302,312,6305,39082,52193,4576],"class_list":["post-576237","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-also","tag-and","tag-at","tag-bays","tag-began","tag-business","tag-collars","tag-cut","tag-fairweather","tag-farm","tag-farmer","tag-fencing","tag-glenalvon","tag-hawkes","tag-improve","tag-improved","tag-laboursaving","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-productivity","tag-reduced","tag-risks","tag-safety","tag-says","tag-tool","tag-trialling","tag-virtual","tag-work"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/576237","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=576237"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/576237\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/576238"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=576237"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=576237"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=576237"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}