Hacker News Reader

It’s weird but I get it. We already did fences so why not a collar I guess. Might be more anxiety inducing though. I prefer walls myself over a collar

View on HN

Cows already obey electric fences which are basically just a piece of string. (When really stressed/agitated they walk right through electric fences, apparently without much additional distress.)

This is just a wireless electric fence. Cue joke about the old lady and radio telegraphy[1]. :-)

1. https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=no%20cat

I think the parent's premise is that the cows can't see a well defined fenceline with the smart collar, to visually know to stop, whereas they can with an electric fence (or other types of physical fencing). And that lack of visual cue would induce anxiety in the cow, perhaps not being as certain where it can go.

The article says that there is an audio cue.

The cow will hear a beep long before it gets zapped. It's the same as for invisible fences with pet collars.

Re: visual cues, a de-powered electric fence almost works as well as a powered-on fence.

(It doesn't, because cows will reach through and around a fence to get bites of tall grass on the other side, and if it doesn't shock them at that point they'll start pushing through to reach more.)

Reply on news.ycombinator.com