Cropping and cattle, finally on the same calendar
“We've only been using eShepherd since January, but it has been a game changer for us.”
Simon Fowler · Condingup, Esperance, WA, Australia
An expansive cropping and finishing operation covering 50,000 hectares in Western Australia is using eShepherd virtual fencing to enhance crop and animal health and productivity.
Chilwell Farms — in Condingup near Esperance — is primarily dedicated to cropping wheat and canola. It also runs 2,000 head of Angus cattle (grass finishing about 1,500 yearlings each year) and 30,000 ewes.
In January 2024, Simon Fowler adopted eShepherd to manage cattle on his cropping land, aiming to lift both crop and pasture performance and animal productivity.
“We’ve only been using eShepherd since January, but it has been a game changer for us.”
What it replaced
Before, cattle free-ranged the farm’s 150-hectare paddocks — undergrazing some areas, overgrazing others, and giving the pasture no time to regenerate.
“Along with having no real control of our cattle in the large paddocks, they would undergraze or overgraze areas and there was no time for pasture regeneration. The lack of efficient grazing was impacting our crop and soil management and meant we weren’t getting the most out of our cattle either.”
Rotation inside the cropping paddocks
eShepherd let the Fowlers control cattle with precision — implementing rotational grazing cells inside each 150-hectare paddock. Mobs are rotated weekly through 50-to-60-hectare cells, ensuring even grazing of residual crop and summer crops, and better cattle management. Simon plans to intensify the pattern over time.
“Using eShepherd we have implemented the rotational grazing system. Our mobs are shifted seamlessly, taking the manual labour out of moving cattle and making both our crop and cattle management far more efficient.”
Within five days of fitting the neckbands, Simon was surprised to see his mob contained behind the virtual fence. “You could see them standing there, but they were contained within the virtual fence we had created. The system has definitely helped achieve more even grazing and better recovery for our crops and pastures.”
Wet ground, regen bush, water access
Simon also uses eShepherd to fence off wet, under-germinated, or regenerating bush areas inside paddocks. “It’s so simple. You just draw the line where the fence needs to go. We have dams in the paddocks for water, so we draw the line so the cattle still have access to the water no matter where they are in the paddock.”
Welfare oversight, in real time
eShepherd’s alerts have also proved invaluable for animal welfare. “We get alerts if one of the cattle hasn’t been moving. Recently I received an alert and found a steer with his head stuck in a tree fork. Before eShepherd, I wouldn’t have known what was happening with that animal until it was too late.”
Confinement pens without the build
Simon now uses neckbands to make virtual confinement pens — currently 500 steers on 8 hectares.
“This allows both controlled feeding and deferred pasture grazing — both important in a year like this where we have had a very dry start. So far it’s working well for this purpose and has saved on the cost of building a physical pen.”
His next goal is to fine-tune grazing strategies further and integrate more automated processes. The local grower group ASHEEP and BEEF has been following his work closely. “eShepherd has definitely enhanced our ability to manage our cattle on our cropping land, improving our efficiency, animal welfare, and productivity.”
