Direct-to-Satellite Tech a ‘Game Changer’ for Beef Farmers
Central Otago farmer Bevan McKnight no longer worries about leaving a few Angus cattle behind while mustering on the 13,000ha station he leases.
In partnership with Halter, owners Mark and Sherrie Stokman have been using Halter covers on their 456-unit farm - comprising Angus stud cows and commercial Angus cows and yearling bulls.
Stokman Angus holds regular bull sales. In 2024, it sold 115 bulls averaged at $5340/bull with 65 head selling for under $5000. The 380ha effective farm includes hilly terrain.
At a recent Beef + Lamb New Zealand council meeting and field day on the farm, Mark told farmers that physical fencing can be a barrier to rotational grazing on beef farms. It's been expensive, labour intensive, and restrictive.
He says they are excited to team with Halter to test the world-leading virtual fencing technology to the beef industry.
Mark says he's been very impressed with Halter. Pasture is being managed effectively, even on hilly terrain. The technology helps optimise grazing and feed management by providing realtime data and provides a live map of the herd and allows for remote management, giving Stokman Angus more flexibility and control over their cattle.
"It's so simple to make that virtual fence line, we are grazing to a more consistent residual and getting better regrowth behind. I would say we are saving three hours of labour a day and we are going to get 15kg weaning weight gain," he says.
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"After a tougher summer and a slow autumn to follow, our sale bulls spent a few months on the hills to build up some cover on the flats. Halter was a game changer to be able to graze effectively and evenly over areas we don't usually run the yearling bulls.
"We definitely can say the team didn't complain about not having to run reels and standards up and down the hills."
Mark says he did his homework on Halter and believes a 15kg weaning weight gain on yearling bulls made economic sense.
"I'm half Dutch and an ex-dairy farmer and we've got a big mortgage. I believe you can have whatever you want - if you're throwing money at it and you make enough off it to make it work well.
"When we first got Halter, I think I calculated that if you've got an extra 15kg weaning weight, say at $4 a kilo, there's $60.
"Well, that's over 50% of your collar cost on a yearly basis, so I think that's quite a return.
"Then when we look at our labour saving, a lot less side-by-side usage, freeing up time block, then as a whole I'm impressed with Halter."
A Halter representative at the field day told farmers that the beef sector is the focus of the New Zealand company that has now gone global.
"It's the core of where we see all our growth. A couple of years ago we really saw value in the beef space," she said.
"We've got a whole team working on the development of the product now and there's going to be some pretty cool things coming out for our New Zealand beef farmers and also for international beef farmers."
She says Halter has about 90% of the dairy virtual fencing market in New Zealand and remains the fastest growing provider in the dairy space.
