You COULD potentially make this work though with the virtual fence too, depending of course on where you're moving them too (so, just moving them "forward" within the property... but not to an entirely different and separate pasture that may be a long distance away, or that's separated by fences and long distances, etc.). Normally, when I give the herd a new pasture, they'll always tend to prefer to be grazing up in that new area vs. the area they had just been in, even if they still have access to that "old break". I do this all the time in my rotations... it's not really a "new pasture"... just a further forward part of a strip that I've got them grazing on, that I've been preventing them from getting to up until that move.
My point would be that you "could" move the adult cattle forward using the "virtual back fence" to muster them up to the new area... and then once you've gotten the adults of the group up there, you "could" then pull that "back fence" back again to where it had been, but still keep the "forward limit fence" in the same "new" place, essentially then allowing the mommas that had left their calves hidden in the old pasture the ability to go back and get them. Those who took their babies along on the move will have no reason to be "back grazing" on that already grazed pasture, so they'll stay "forward"... but the cows that had left their calves behind will go back and get them, and then bring them up to the herd and the new area. That's how I do it with my polywire when I move them... I just move the forward wire, and allow them the freedom to be able to go back to what they had been on. Eventually (and usually within the day) they all, including the newborn calves, get themselves moved up into the new area.
One of the biggest concerns I have with the virtual fence is that we are automatically,
by necessity, TEACHING the cattle to be
TESTING that fence boundary ALL THE TIME. They
HAVE TO BE testing it... constantly, to determine where you've moved it to, and what their new boundaries are. Every collared animal, every day... testing... testing... testing... Particularly because you ARE "moving" that boundary, all the time. (And this is the biggest reason that "battery capacity" and "solar recharging capability" is critically important on these systems...).
That's different than when there is a physical, visible wire, or polywire in place. How many of the cows do you see "testing" to see if that polywire that you're carrying between two people, mustering them up into the corral, is hot? NONE of them! They ASSUME that it IS hot, even if it isn't, because they tried it once, and didn't like it. It's a psychological barrier, even if it is no longer hot. They are afraid/unwilling to challenge it. The other day, I had a field day here... had over 70 strangers in attendance. To avoid those strangers getting an undesireable startle
, I shut off the fencer, and forgot to turn it back on until the next day. Three hundred+ head of cattle on the place, in three different herds, each with a bull, plus four bulls in my bull pen. Two of the herds happened to be literally right across the fence from each other, and when I realized the next day that I hadn't turned the fencer back on, the two bulls in those groups were staring and bellowing at each other through the fence between them... but NOBODY went where they weren't supposed to... even though there was NO heat on that fence. I maybe got lucky, particularly with those bulls... but it makes my point.
So what IS my point? What happens when the inevitable "glitch" happens, and "the system" isn't functioning properly. With a physical wire, they still respect that physical, visible boundary. They still "don't test it", because they can SEE IT, and they realize and remember that the last time they touched it, it shocked them, and it certainly wasn't pleasant, and they then try to avoid it. Even in the dark, if they can't see it... if they bump into it and feel the resistance of the wire, they back off, hoping not to get shocked. But what about with a virtual fence, where we've been
intentionally TEACHING them to test that boundary continuously, all the time? Now what is going to be stopping them? Nothing... because there's "nothing" there. And how long will it take them to figure out that there's nothing there. Minutes, probably... because we've been teaching them ALL THE TIME, to be testing that boundary, ALL THE TIME. They'll test, like we've taught them to do, and they'll absolutely keep right on going, until they finally "get a signal". When will that be? And how far will they have gone, or how mixed up with other herds might they have become, before we can restore that system to full functionality?
AND, some of that "fully functional" is well beyond YOUR own ability to fix. What if it's a "hacker" situation? Even the banking system, and government computer systems, are not "safe" from hacking. How long can you be "down", and not have serious consequences as a result, when we've been TEACHING those animals to test that boundary constantly? If it's a tree down on the fence, I can fix that. If it's a fencer that goes down from lightning, I can fix that. I can't fix a satellite connection, or a software issue, or a subscription failure. What if it's that expensive "tower station" that fails? What just happened to my control of my herd(s)? Technology sounds great, as long as it's working..................... but technology being what it is, we KNOW that there are going to be failures. And chances are they aren't going to be cheap to fix either.
