In Future Sheep May Text Warning to Shepherds

In Future Sheep May Text Warning to Shepherds

In Future Sheep May Text Warning to Shepherds

Imagine livestock producers if your sheep or cow was able to send you a text to alert you of a nearby wolf or other predators. Well, it isn’t as farfetched as it may seem. After the break we will learn more about research of this predator warning system, I’m KayDee Gilkey with Open Range.

Our field reporter Lacy Gray shares more details.??Gray: “According to a recent news story, a Swiss biologist is developing a collar which monitors a sheep’s heart rate and determine when it’s distressed. The collar would be able to call the shepherd if the heart rate of the sheep has been increased for an extended period. Earlier research has been done using heart rate monitors like those used by runners in the collar to measure a sheep’s heart rate. When an animal is stressed, its heart rate can increase almost threefold.”

She shares there are several options being tested.Gray: “The scientist Jean-Marc Landry is from Kora, a Swiss carnivore research group. The first collars will be produced some time this fall and he is considering three different techniques to help protect the sheep: a possible mobile chip that alerts the shepherd via text when sheep are stressed; or possibly the collar may play a loud noise or spray a chemical repellent to frighten the wolf.”

This research will hopefully help the increasing numbers of Swiss and Italian sheep that are being eaten by wolves especially among those smaller flocks where the sheep producers can’t afford a dog to protect their flock.
This collar could really come in handy for livestock grazing in wolf territory throughout the Pacific Northwest.

I’m KayDee Gilkey with Open Range on the Northwest Ag Information Network.
 

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