Host Lynsey McAnally (00:28):

Angus at Work, a podcast for the profit-minded cattleman. Brought to you by the Angus Beef Bulletin, we have news and information on health, nutrition, marketing, genetics and management. So let’s get to work, shall we?

Seeing healthy cattle grazing on even healthier pastures does something to the heart of beef producers. Fixing fence and moving hot wire to rotational graze? Well, that doesn't give us quite the same rush of serotonin.

Here at the Angus Beef Bulletin, our team is in the thick of all topics grazing and pasture management. On this episode of Angus at Work Editor Shauna Hermel sat down at CattleCon 2026 in Nashville, Tenn., with Andrew Fraser, president of virtual fencing provider Halter, to learn more about their system, what is working for producers, where they're looking to expand and more.

But first, a big thank you to Tech Mix for their sponsorship of this episode.

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Shauna Hermel (01:41):

Hello, this is Shauna Hermel. Welcome to this edition of Angus at Work. I'm here today and talking with Andrew Fraser. Andrew, you're from a bit across the pond. Could you tell us a little bit about yourself and what brings you here to the U.S. today? 

Andrew Fraser (01:55):

Yeah, sure. And great to meet you as well. Thank you very much for having me. So I'm Andrew. I'm the president at Halter . I know we'll talk a little bit about Halter, but maybe at a personal level. So I am from New Zealand. I live in New Zealand, as well. Halter today operates in New Zealand, Australia and in the U.S. and so I spend a lot of time up here. I think this is my sixth trip to the U.S. in the past six months to spend time out and about with our ranches. With our team here as well, out supporting our growth in the U.S.

Shauna Hermel (02:22):

Okay. Now you are involved in maybe one of the most up-and-coming technologies that we're seeing here in the U.S. today: virtual fencing.

Can you explain what your product is and how you brought it to the U.S. How you proved it in New Zealand and brought it to the U.S.?

Andrew Fraser (02:40):

Yes, certainly. So Halter as a company has been around for about 10 years now. The first 5 years were all R&D. It was just learning how to get collars on cows and support cows through virtual fencing and virtual shifting. So that's what we do: you put a collar on a cow and mark on your phone where you want those cows to stay.

Shauna Hermel (03:01):

On your phone?

Andrew Fraser (03:02):

On your phone. So there's an app on your phone and it will have a map of your farm or your ranch. You draw on there where you want them to be and they will stay in there. We primarily use sound to do that. So once a cow crosses the line where you want them to stay, they'll get a beep in their ear, like a reversing camera. So like beep, beep, beep beep ... that type of thing. That will turn them ...

Shauna Hermel (03:22):

An annoying little noise.

Andrew Fraser (03:24):

Right exactly. That will turn them back towards their break, and so they learn that way. So you'll draw that. The other thing that we do as well is virtual shifting, too.

Shauna Hermel (03:34):

I was wondering what that [was]. I hadn't heard that term before.

Andrew Fraser (03:37):

So what that means is, again, on your phone, on an app, you draw where you want them to go. So they might be sitting over here in the paddock or the pasture, you want them to move over here, you draw where you want them to go, and our Halter product will actually guide them there as well.

Shauna Hermel (03:52):

So if I want to bring cows up for a synchronization program where I can actually bring them up without even going out to the pasture.

Andrew Fraser (03:59):

Absolutely. So that's the type of thing we do. It can also be great for things like pasture management, as well. So instead of saying, 'Hey, you've got this whole thousand acres to roam today, let's put you in 50-acre blocks and let's slowly move you back'. And that way you're maximizing your pasture. You're making sure that your cattle are in the right area. They're not just choosing the easy grass; they're getting every blade of grass, as well. So that's another big part of what we're doing is that pasture management, as well.

Shauna Hermel (04:30):

That would save a little bit on fencing, I suppose.

Andrew Fraser (04:33):

Yes, and especially with the cost of fencing in the U.S. today. We see that that's a big bonus or benefit of virtual fencing, as well, is you don't need to build fences. You don't need to spend as much on fence maintenance, as well. Certainly hope that ranches aren't impacted by things like floods that wash away fences, but it also means that in that situation you don't have to rebuild. You've got it all on your app. You can draw that there and the cows will learn and understand how that works, as well.

Shauna Hermel (05:00):

So tell me, if a person wants to get involved in this, how long does it take to train a cow to respond to the signals? Can you just put the tags in the ear and go or put the collars on?

Andrew Fraser (05:13):

Yeah, so we do collars. So once you've collared, it takes about a week to train your animals. So cows ... I love cows. Cows are very intelligent.

Shauna Hermel (05:22):

They are.

Andrew Fraser (05:23):

And so they pick it up really quickly. We work with you. We've got a team that works with that launch and onboarding side of things. We work with you around how to train your animals, and it takes about a week for them to get the hang of it, and then they've got it. And the best part of that is if you are adding new animals to the herd, they'll just follow along being herd animals. They pick it up very, very quickly as well. So you don't need to retrain every time you go to a new area or anytime you bring new animals in. They'll be able to run with that, as well.

Shauna Hermel (05:52):

So do you have to tag every animal within a herd? Do you tag the calves as well as cows?

Andrew Fraser (05:58):

Yes, you do need to tag every animal within a herd in terms of the mama cows or older cows. We don't recommend tagging calves under 8 months old just because they're still developing at that stage. But once they're eight months, you can. What we find is that calves stick with their mums anyway in those situations, so they naturally stay as a herd. But one fun thing we've seen is that, let's say you've drawn a break or you've got your cows in a particular area and there are calves, as well. What this allows is that the calves, because they don't have a collar, they can go slightly beyond that. They can get the great best pasture from there, as well. And so we've actually seen that Halter helps accelerate the fattening of the calves, as well. It's a nice little benefit from all of this.

Shauna Hermel (06:46):

They can do a little creep-grazing.

Andrew Fraser (06:47):

Exactly. It's essentially creep-grazing with the collars on the mama cow.

Shauna Hermel (06:52):

How about bulls? Bulls don't respect a fence.

Andrew Fraser (06:56):

So we do collar bulls. I would say that the restriction there is when a bull's neck gets bigger than its head, collars don't work. So that would be the one thing that I'd say there. But, absolutely, we've actually had really interesting results from bulls. You can collar your bulls, you've just got to be mindful when they get too big, then it can get a little bit tougher. But beyond that, absolutely. We've got bulls on ranches all across the U.S. today that are using Halter .

Shauna Hermel (07:24):

So what size of herd is usually the first to adapt to this system?

Andrew Fraser (07:31):

Yeah, it depends. We tend to not do smaller ranches, hobby farms or that type of thing. So historically, we've said 50 to 100 is the right place to start. We are on some pretty big ranches across the U.S. right now, so there's no upper limit. It really goes to how you want to use Halter, what your topography is like, what benefits you can get there as well. But I'd say right now we're in 22 different states. We've got a host of different producers that are using Halter today, and so [there is] a lot of flexibility around how you use it once you get to that size.

Shauna Hermel (08:08):

I saw your Halter representative at a Missouri Livestock Symposium a couple weeks ago. Now Missouri has got a lot of smaller-scale herds. So, are you coming more into the Midwest than just the range?

Andrew Fraser (08:22):

Yes. So that would've been Elena. She's fantastic. She's our Missouri rep today and we're actually hiring a second one, as well. So I'll talk you through where we are today in terms of where we've got reps. We've got folks right now in Texas, Arkansas, Missouri, Iowa, then up Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, South Dakota, and then more the the Mountain West as well. So Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, Utah, and then the Pacific Northwest too. So that's where we are. It tends to be where there are small to medium to large-size herds and we are going to grow that over time as well. So next for us is the Southeast. That's where I think is the next stop. Florida and the like. And, also, just continuing to grow out those regions that I just mentioned before.

Shauna Hermel (09:07):

You bet. So tell me a little bit about the collars. What's retention like? In brushy country are they likely to pull those collars off, and what can producers do to make sure that things stay put and working?

Andrew Fraser (09:24):

So fit and animal welfare is one of the most important things for us, if not the most important thing. All of our early engineers actually had to learn how to sew because we wanted to get that fit. We wanted to get the collar good. We didn't want something like a chain around a neck. It had to be something that was comfortable for the animal and could work in any situation. The other thing that we do as well is we use solar. So the collars have a six-year lifetime. So it's a lifetime warranty, but there's no need to change batteries or anything along those lines.

Shauna Hermel (09:58):

So it could stay on a cow for six years?

Andrew Fraser (10:00):

Exactly. And we've got cows back home in New Zealand that have had collars for that long, that length of time, too. So when it comes to keeping them on, they've been designed for all of that rugged stuff. If I think of a dairy shed, they're in there twice a day. In metal, in things like that, feed bins. So they get that side. They're built to go on in crushes, as well. To put them on and for animals to go through. We are used to that. Even in more brushy country, more tree-filled country, that's fine, as well. There is a break point so if they do get snagged, they will be able to rip free. We also send you spares. If that ever happens, you just put on a spare collar and off you go. The beautiful thing is there's GPS in them, so you know exactly where the impacted collar is. So you can pick that up, then you put a spare on and that's at no cost to you.

Shauna Hermel (10:54):

Oh wow. So now do the collars have to go through a relay station to go to your phone or is it just the collar and goes [straight] to satellite? How does that function?

Andrew Fraser (11:05):

Yeah, so right now collars talk to towers, which talk to your app. Again, to go back to animal welfare, that's something that really, really matters to us. We never want to be in a situation where a cow does not have coverage or is in a ravine and you don't know about it. We put the towers around your ranch so that you know you've got full coverage. The towers can talk to mobile coverage, they can talk to Starlink themselves. That's our way to relay instructions to your cows through that.

Shauna Hermel (11:37):

We've got a 200 cow herd. Three hundred and fifty acres of grassland and woods. How would you set me up for being able to utilize the Halter virtual fence?

Andrew Fraser (11:48):

Perfect. So first thing I'd do is send Elena out because she knows Missouri conditions a lot better than I do. That would be the starting point and that's why we've got reps in all of those states because they know the local producers. She can talk about Dave down the road, who's got it or things as well. So that would be my first step. But if we move past that piece, what we would do is we'd get a map of your property. We would get that to our tower crew. Based on the size you're talking about, I honestly think you'd probably only need one or two towers. That's it. And then if you are happy, we would proceed. We would send you the collars. We'd also have Elena come out to you and help you collar for your first day just to make sure that you understand how it works.

You've got the fit. You get all those pieces. You would train them for up to a week, you'd let them loose and then you'd be able to use the app. You'd be able to see where they are. You'd be able to keep them in their virtual breaks. You'd be able to shift them as you need. It's as easy as that really. When it comes to come to all of that, as I said, you'd have some spares sent out with you. So if anything ever happened to the collars, you'd just switch them back on.

Shauna Hermel (12:55):

So what's it going to cost me?

Andrew Fraser (12:58):

We use a subscription model. The way that works, again, you don't have to pay for the collars upfront. We send them to you and then you pay us a subscription. Right now that works out to about $72 a year per cow.

What I'd say there is when you look at the cost of fencing today, when you look at the upside in terms of pasture management — whether it's increasing your stocking rates or just getting fatter cows before you ever get into the labor benefits or any of those things — we are pretty comfortable that from a return-on-investment perspective, that's right there for you as well. That's how it works. As long as you're paying your subscription, we'll keep sending you more collars down the road.

Shauna Hermel (13:41):

You don't have to pay for the towers?

Andrew Fraser (13:43):

So there is a cost for the towers up front. It's a one-off and about $4,000 per tower. And you also get the lifetime warranty. You don't have to pay for replacements down the road or anything along those lines either.

Shauna Hermel (13:56):

So for being here in the U.S., you said that you've been here 10 years. How long is the longest herd that you've had subscribed?

Andrew Fraser (14:05):

Yeah, so if I think of Halter ... Halter has been around 10 years. The first five years were all R&D. We did start in dairy in New Zealand, so we are 100% pasture-based. We don't operate in feedlots or any of those things. So it's purely on pasture and it just so happens that in New Zealand (and most of Australia) dairy is on pasture, too. So we started there, which is the trickier one in some respects. We had to show that we could get cows into dairy sheds and move them that way. So our first three years commercially were focused on dairy. So we've been in the U.S. for coming up two years now. That's the longest that we've had collars on cattle here. We've had some in Kansas, Texas and California for about two years now. Those ranches are very happy with us. We've got some of them actually here at CattleCon talking on our behalf and sharing their stories. The longest we've had collers on cattle is about seven years in total in that dairy space and in beef in the U.S. it's been about two years. 

Shauna Hermel (15:03):

Two years. So when you talk to those producers who have [been] trying it, what are the main things that they stress as advantages of the system to them?

Andrew Fraser (15:12):

I'd say there's a few. At a very basic level, they know exactly where their cattle are at any given time. That matters a lot. It means that if you need to see them, if you need to check how they're going, you know exactly where they are and you can go straight there. A lot of those folks care deeply about pasture. A lot of them were practicing what we call rotational grazing anyway. They were putting out hot wire, they were doing that on a daily or a weekly basis. So it's really helped them in terms of lifestyle, labor, all those pieces, as well. Many that I've talked to have also increased stocking rate. That comes from having access to that pasture, being able to get the most out of your pasture. There was a rancher in Wyoming at the end of last year who's gone from 800 to 1,500 head of cattle. So Halter plus a bit of investment in water infrastructure has meant that they can double their stocking rate.

Shauna Hermel (16:06):

Getting to areas that they wouldn't have gotten to before?

Andrew Fraser (16:09):

Exactly. So they're able to use their entire property, and so you might use Halter to hold them on a patch, which cattle wouldn't normally go into. Where there's grass, but it might just be a little bit tricky to access. Let's get the most out of that. Let's move them before it gets too far down so they're not eating down to nothing, but they're also not leaving it so high that it's not going to regrow fast either. So just having that tool that you can use to support your pasture growth can just really unlock that stocking rate.

Shauna Hermel (16:40):

No product fits perfectly every situation. What are some of the things that they're telling you? We want you to work on this?

Andrew Fraser (16:48):

I'll give you one example from the early days of Halter, but then I'll get more to relevant ones here. We saw early on cows are very intelligent. I was having a giggle earlier. There was one case where a cow realized that if it could back out — so reverse back through the virtual fence — it wouldn't get the beeps. That would be one thing that we learned very quickly. The rest of the herd started to catch on as well. So there was a herd of moonwalking cows coming back. That was one thing that we did learn. One thing that I'd say we are working on is with the tower piece. Today, it means that if you're a really extensive rancher ... So a ranch in Wyoming, which is 250,000 acres, they've got about 3,000 head of cattle. That's a tricky one with the towers today. That's an area that we're working on to make sure that through advanced communication you can do a better job of supporting that scale of ranches. The other thing I'd say is because our history is in dairy, there are a few things on the dairy side that we are looking to bring to the beef side. One of those is heat detection. So being able to say, 'Hey, this cow is in heat. That's something that we'll be bringing over into the beef product.

Shauna Hermel (17:59):

That's from movement from the collar?

Andrew Fraser (18:02):

It's behavioral cues. We are looking at any given time grazing, rumination, movement, resting. We're looking at all of those and using that to determine those pieces as well. And the other one is health alerts, too. Not relevant for every rancher, but there are certainly some that would like to have forewarning that this cow is lame or has issues right now. Whether that's mastitis or whatever. There are a few things that we're also getting requests from ranches. They can see that in some of what we're doing right now on the dairy product and they want it for beef. It's things that are really relevant for their ranch.

Shauna Hermel (18:44):

Now is that at an additional cost to what the grazing collars would be? I guess you could call them?

Andrew Fraser (18:49):

Yeah, so the way that it works again for dairy today is that there's different packages and they build up. So if you just want virtual fencing and virtual herding, which I'd say most ranches would perfect, that's our base package. As we bring in more things, we will probably add those as different packages and we'll confirm that once we've got all those pieces finalized as well. But what we want to make sure is that every rancher can always virtually fence and then virtually shift their cattle as part of that base package.

Shauna Hermel (19:18):

So along with the R&D factor, you're involved in several university studies here in the U.S. right now. Could you describe some of them?

Andrew Fraser (19:26):

Yes, certainly. So right now we're partnered with a number of universities across the U.S., a lot of the agricultural universities in various states. An example of what we're doing with them right now is around, for example, heat detection in cattle. We're working with a university right now to test what we are bringing to market, making sure that they're getting the benefit from their herds with it first, and also making sure that it's accurate and up to spec. They can learn a lot there about stockmanship and how best to utilize that piece. It means that we can go to a rancher and say, 'Hey, look, we're doing this with Oregon State or Kansas State or Texas A&M', and it builds that trust side of things as well. But there's also got to be that benefit for the university that they can work on it, get that access and get that data that they can then write papers and things off the back of it, too.

Shauna Hermel (20:16):

You bet. And do some field days.

Andrew Fraser (20:18):

Oh, exactly. We love a good field day. We've got an R&D farm ourselves in New Zealand. Actually, one of our product team in the U.S., his family farm is just across the Colorado border. That's where we do a lot of our beef testing. We're lucky that we've also got people that work for Halter who are from ranching backgrounds.Almost everybody to be honest in the U.S. We can test some stuff on their ranches, which is handy, too.

Shauna Hermel (20:44):

That is. If I'm sitting here and wondering should I do a virtual fencing system or virtual herding system, what questions should I ask myself? What should I prepare myself for?

Andrew Fraser (20:58):

Yeah, so I think there are a few different areas here. One is I'd be looking at your farming systems or your ranching systems today and if there's a way that you can see benefit from the things that we've talked about. I think that's a very easy starting point. So if you're using polywire or hotwire to fence today or to do rotational grazing, I think that's a very clear one where I would say we can do it better or easier than what you're having to do today. You can either make your life a little bit easier ... I would never say in terms of labor, more to say that in a lot of ranching and agricultural areas, it can be tough to retain staff. It just gives you that backup. I would say if you're doing anything like that today, that's one option.

Another one is if you're sitting there and you're thinking, Hey, I'm not making the most of my pasture today, that would be the biggie for me. I love pasture. I think it's the key to ranching. A lot of folks in New Zealand say that they're not actually dairy farmers or beef farmers, they're grass farmers. That would be the next thing I'd say. If you don't feel like you're utilizing your grasses as well as you could, that would be the next piece. Another one that we hear a lot of, and that makes me really happy to hear, is examples of either ranches that are getting to the end of their ranching lives and need some help and want to make it a little bit easier or that are going through that succession piece and want to do a better job of getting that next generation on ranch. We've really seen that by taking away a lot of the non-value adding, but often more tedious or tougher jobs and automating those, it gives ranches more time to spend with animals and on the land. And it's actually been a really great opportunity to get sons and daughters back onto the ranch because they don't have to do the hotwire, they don't have to do all of those things as well.

Shauna Hermel (22:40):

Fencing isn't the most popular task.

Andrew Fraser (22:43):

Exactly. We're not taking away your stockmanship or your cowboyship, but it just means that you can focus on the stuff that matters. I'd say that would be another thing that I'd keep in the back of your mind as you're making these decisions.

Shauna Hermel (22:54):

Is there anything that we've left out?

Andrew Fraser (22:56):

No, probably more just to say is, yeah, we are growing fast, but the way that we're doing it is by working with ranches. What we love is getting on board folks who are excited to work with us. Who are excited about their land and their animals. We take good care of you once you're here, and the best thing for us is also rancher referrals. How we want to grow is by doing a good job proving ourself on your ranch and then working with you and your neighboring ranches. It's just a joy to chat and excited about more and more that we can do with Angus ranches going forward as well.

Shauna Hermel (23:28):

Andrew, one of the things that we do with Angus at Work, we always like to end on a high note. Would you have something to share on a personal or professional level that would be a highlight?

Andrew Fraser (23:39):

I'll do a recent one for you. My cousin is a dairy farmer. When he left school, he went into dairy. Funnily enough, that's how I paid my way through college: milking cows. Just two weeks ago he got Halter. It was pretty special to see him getting excited about the technology.

Shauna Hermel (23:57):

You have a family member on board!

Andrew Fraser (23:59):

I know! They can be some of the toughest folks, I'll be honest. I didn't push him. He came to me and was like, "Look, I think we're ready.' But just to see him and the impact it's already had on him, his wife ... they've got three children under the age of 12 who love being on farm. But again, it's just making his life easier already. That's been a pretty special moment for me. Seeing my professional life and my personal life come together. Especially because I've milked that farm over the years and I've spent a lot of time there, it just meant all the more. I would say that would be my one good thing.

Shauna Hermel (24:33):

Well, that's wonderful. Thank you for joining us today and good luck here at convention.

Andrew Fraser (24:38):

Cheers, Shauna! Thank you very much.

Host Lynsey McAnally (24:46):

Listeners, for more information on making Angus work for you, check out the Angus Beef Bulletin and the Angus Beef Bulletin EXTRA. You can subscribe to both publications in the show notes. If you have questions or comments, let us know at abbeditorial@angus.org and we would appreciate it if you would leave us a review on Apple Podcasts and share this episode with any other profit-minded cattlemen. Thanks for listening. This has been Angus at Work!