Houston...We Heifer Problem
YORKSHIRE DALES - Security systems in towns and cities has led to some people feeling that Big Brother is watching them more and more.
29 August 2007
1 minute read
| One of the blue grey and beef shorthorns that have been fitted with electronic collars to help trace their movements |
But cows in remote countryside have so far avoided having their every move recorded by a surveillance system - until now.
Three of a herd of 50 blue grey and beef shorthorns have been fitted with electronic collars so they can be tracked by satellite to help conserve the Yorkshire Dales National Park.
The collars contain a global positioning system (GPS) receiver to give an instant fix on the animals' position and a data logger to record information for a computer.
The equipment can even tell if a cow has its head down grazing, is standing still, or moving.
The experiment on the Ingleborough nature reserve, in North Yorkshire, will help to improve wildlife management on farm land.
The pilot scheme is the latest phase of the Limestone Country project, launched in 2002 to preserve rare plants by returning to mixed livestock grazing using hardy, native cattle breeds.
Reserve manager Paul Evans said collars were fitted to three cows which graze almost 200 hectares of upland.
