GPS grazing collars supporting conservation in Norbury Park

Cattle in certain areas of Norbury Park are going high-tech, with innovative GPS collars creating invisible grazing boundaries to help manage important habitats for wildlife, while giving visitors the ability to check where cattle are grazing.

From the end of September, some of the cattle grazing in Norbury Park will be doing so without traditional electric fencing. Instead, they’ll wear GPS-enabled Nofence collars, which create invisible virtual boundaries to keep them within designated grazing areas.

The technology will help Surrey Wildlife Trust, who manage the conservation within Norbury Park on behalf of Surrey County Council, control where the cattle graze and use grazing more precisely to support the management of important habitats for nature.

How does a virtual fence work?

Instead of putting up physical fencing, land managers use an app to plot a virtual boundary on a digital map.
Each adult cow wears its own GPS collar. As an animal approaches the virtual boundary, the collar gives an audio warning which increases in pitch. The cattle learn to associate the sound with the boundary and change direction. If an animal continues beyond the audio warning, the collar can deliver a small electrical pulse.
This allows the cattle to remain within a defined grazing area without the need to install and regularly move temporary electric fencing.

The GPS technology also enables those looking after the herd to monitor the location of individual animals.
In Norbury Park, the collars will keep cattle within specific areas allocated for grazing.

Cows doing their bit for nature

Conservation grazing is an important tool for looking after countryside and creating healthy, varied habitats for wildlife.

Grazing animals have helped shape Surrey's landscapes for generations. As cattle move through an area, grazing different plants at different heights, they help prevent vegetation from becoming uniformly overgrown and create a more varied structure.

This mosaic of shorter grass, taller vegetation and less heavily grazed areas can provide different opportunities for plants, insects and other wildlife.

Virtual fencing gives conservation managers greater flexibility over where and when cattle graze.  It can be particularly useful on large and complex countryside sites, while also reducing the time and resources needed to install, move and maintain physical fencing.

What does this mean for visitors?

One of the biggest changes visitors may notice is that there may not be a physical fence showing that they are entering an area containing cattle.

Signs in Norbury Park will let visitors know when they are approaching a fenceless grazing compartment. Visitors will also be able to see where the cattle are by scanning a QR code from on-site posters to access a live map, or use the information provided to avoid the grazing compartment altogether if they prefer.

If you do come across the cattle we advise:

• Put dogs on leads
• Pick up after your dog to limit the spread of neospora, a bacteria that can cause miscarriage in livestock.
• Move calmly and quietly
• Give cattle a wide berth
• Walk around the cattle rather than through the herd

We would encourage dog walkers to use our dedicated dog walking trail within Norbury Park which is clearly signed on interpretation boards from all car parks.