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Nofence - The virtual fence for grazing animals

The world's first virtual fence. Now available for goats - Unlock the potential of your pastures

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Nofence - The virtual fence for grazing animals

Nofence - The virtual fence for grazing animals

Nofence - The virtual fence for grazing animals

Nofence - The virtual fence for grazing animals

Nofence - The virtual fence for grazing animals

The world's first virtual fence. Now available for goats - Unlock the potential of your pastures

The world's first virtual fence. Now available for goats - Unlock the potential of your pastures

The world's first virtual fence. Now available for goats - Unlock the potential of your pastures

The world's first virtual fence. Now available for goats - Unlock the potential of your pastures

Erik Harstad
Erik Harstad
Erik Harstad
Erik Harstad
1 Campaign |
Batnfjordsoera, Norway
$207,029 USD $207,029 USD by 246 backers
$193,095 USD by 222 backers on Feb 15, 2018
Overview
We believe that livestock should be given more time to graze on fresh pastures. This healthy and free natural resource is costly and time consuming to utilize due to fencing. Nofence is the world's first system for virtual fencing for grazing animals. Are you ready for less labour and improved animal welfare? Give your animals access to whatever fresh and healthy pastures they want - Order now and join our journey towards a future sustainable agriculture! Click here and read our story:

This is Nofence

The system consists of a solar-powered GPS collar and an app. If an animal crosses the nofence boundary and enters the warning zone, the collar starts vibrating and beeping to warn the animal that it might receive an electric shock. They are easily trained to  understand what the signals from the collar mean, and turn back to avoid the electric shock. This ensures that the animal stay within the defined boundary. Nofence safeguards animal welfare and promotes sustainable agriculture.

Features included

  • Nofence smartphone-app (Android og iOS) for daily administration of pastures and tracking of your collars. Draw new pastures or change existing pastures.

  • my.nofence.no - User portal for desktop computer
    Log in via your browser and access all data collected from the collars for a deeper analysis- Behaviour data is presented as heat maps and statistics. You can also activate or deactivate your pool of collars.

  • Firmware updates – Quick and easy
    We push out new firmware updates to all your collars through the mobile network.

  • Free Support
    Call us for help - Linda and her team will be ready to help. We will also supply all the material you need to learn about our technology and how to train your goats

  • Connectivity
    All collars comes with a SIM-card that enables data communication over your local mobile network- The subscription cost to the network provider is included in your price.

The user portal - https://my.nofence.no will give you valueable insights into status and statistics such as grazing habits - This is seen from our support console where we easily can look at your data if you need any help

Press

 

    How it works

     

    You need:

    The Nofence system consists of the collars worn by the animals, as well as an app that works on tablets and smartphones (iOS & Android).

     

    Draw the grazing area

    The app allows you to draw the virtual fence on a digital map. Keep in mind the natural behaviour of your goats and their ability to understand Nofence when drawing the virtual fence. If the area is too small, doesn’t have the variety of vegetation that the goats want or does not satisfy basic needs, they are less likely to respect the Nofence boundary. In addition, the grazing area shouldn’t have any sharp angles or excessively narrow corridors. Also remember that GPS works best if the collar has a clear line of sight in all directions.

    Nofence allows you to create whatever grazing area you want, but obviously you should bear in mind the terrain and surroundings. Give the animals access to water by putting the boundary slightly into a tarn, lake or a river. Give access to rocky terrain, that the goat loves, but is difficult to fence. Manage your livestock to improve your land. Use this great tool and give yourself and your animals a better farm life!

    Find more information here

    The new design:

    After the pilot we saw several areas for improvement which are now included in our new hardware design. Status as of January 15th is that all parts are now ordered, and our sub supplier in China is starting to construct the injection molds - We will update our backers with the progress

    3D Model of the 2018 Nofence Goat Collar

     

    The Product packages in this campaign (Perks)

    The goat collars provided in this campaign comes in two types of product packages, each in a few different sizes that can be combined to the amount of collars you need:

    1) PRE-PAID 12 month - 1, 4, 6 or 10 Collars
    The best deal - Buy the collars you need with 12 months of subscription cost included at a reduced price. Suitable for those grazing all the year. (Cost equivalent to approx. 7 months use of FLEX)

    2) FLEX - 1, 4, 6 or 10 Collars
    The flexible deal - Buy the collars and pay the subscription cost monthly, starting when you receive the collars. Suitable if you want to reduce up-front cost and pay as you go. 

    (The general terms & conditions that will apply, can be found on our website here)

    Delivery time

    We plan for delivery in some selected markets first. Norway, our home market, will be prioritized to get the first deliveries.

    • Norway Q3 2018 (estimated late june)
    • Europe Q3 2018 (estimated august)
    • Australia & New Zealand Q4 2018 (estimated october)
    • USA & Canada Q4 2018 (estimated december)

    Risks & Challenges

    The product works and has been used by 120 pilot farmers in Norway the last two years. A total of 1200 collars and approx. 3.000.000 hours of thorough testing have given us a great opportunity to improve the prototype collar to an industrialized and market ready product.


    The 2016 Prototype used in the two year trials in Norway - Se also the videos below.

    We have experienced a lot of trouble in the pilot, like watertightness, hardware issues and energy issues. These risks are now strongly mitigated for the next version of the collar. We have completely re-designed the collar so it will meet those issues or in technical terms; IP-54 class. Hardware design is improved through cooperation with industry leading advisors and suppliers. So far, energy balance has been the biggest issue. Continuous position measurements and data transmission are energy consuming. The collar has solar panels to refill energy into the battery. The new design will therefore have a battery package that can easily be replaced when necessary. For comparison to your farm, we achieved 30-40  days of use before battery change, at a farm in North West coast of Norway, September 2016.

    Energy consumption depends on how close the animals are grazing to the Nofence boundary. Larger pastures generally gives less energy consumption due to smart software. You must expect to replace batteries during use, especially in northern Europe, but we ensure you that we are working hard every day towards the ultimate goal of energy balance in demanding countries like Norway. In other countries, more blessed with solar radiation, this could be significant better in theory, but we have no data to quantify this (yet…)

    The collar has a satelite receiver that provide position data. Position accuracy  can be an issue near ie. steep cliffs or near/inside buildings. The best position accuracy is however found in open landscapes that correlates well with quality pastures. If the animals absolutely have to be in areas with less accurate position data, we have a bluetooth beacon that can be used for this purpose. You will get more information and guidance about this later.

    The collar communicates through the mobile phone network - It sends you notifications, receives firmware-updates and changes you make on the nofence boundary or the flock. NB! Be aware that you will need mobile phone coverage where you will use the product.

    Background

    As a child, Oscar Hovde Berntsen, the inventor and founder of Nofence, envisioned a future without fences. He grew up on a small scale farm on the north-west coast of rural Norway with lots of animals. He loved to release the animals from their fences, so they could enjoy the fresh pastures in the hillsides. The idea of the possibility to drop fences was born. Some years after he graduated with an engineering degree in electronics, the available technology were starting to mature, and in 2007 - 10 years ago - he decided to start exploring the idea and make the first mock-ups for a collar that could make virtual fencing a reality. And it worked!
    Meet Oscar:

    Now, ten years later we are a small group of dedicated engineers and farmers who use this equipment on a daily basis.
    Meet Magnus from Nofence - He started a lucrative goat grazing service:

    A prototype has been in use for two years and has delivered real value to our 120 pilot customers and virtual fences to 1200 goats throughout Norway. With this valuable experience and acid test we are now moving one more step and are ready to start the very first sale - We are excited to invite you to join our journey

    Use of funds

    For delivery in 2018 we are going to produce a limited number of goat-collars.  This first round of sale will hopefully give us the necessary funding to start the early growth of our company. We will use these funds to hire the next key employees. 

    Team

    Meet the current employees:


    In addition we have a strong team of external advisors:

    Hardcore Hardware Designer: Leif Gunnar Ellingsen at PartnerPlast 
    Software Architect: Per Sandved Hustad  and the rest of the great Axbit-team
    Industrial Designers at Minoko Design

    Production and final assembly  is being done at SIMPRO , located just an hour drive away. 

    Important notice before you buy:

    Now we are offering Nofence collar that is designed, tested and documented specific for use on goats. Collars for cattle is our next priority and will be available in 2019 - Trials for sheep will start during 2018. 

    1. That means it can be used for GOATS ONLY
    2. .You need cell phone coverage at the grazing site to be able to use the system!
    3. We have proper scientific documentation that the product has no animal welfare issues. You will be responsible to make sure if there are any regulatory issues prohibiting use in your country.
    4. Remember that goats need companions. We recommend a minimum of 4 goats in one flock for optimal performance and animal welfare.
    5. Our general terms & conditions will apply - By placing an order through Indiegogo you have agreed to these. Please find these on our web page

    6. VAT is not included in the prices. For norwegian customers we will invoice VAT (Merverdiavgift) after delivery. 

    Other Ways You Can Help

    Maybe you are one of those who just like our idea and have no plans to start as a farmer? We are happy for all the support we can get - So please get the word out and make some noise about our campaign. Share the campaign site using the Indiegogo share tools!


    Questions?

    Find our FAQ here or ask us at  sales@nofence.no

     

     - All the best from the Nofence Team - 


     

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