Portable Pasture Fencing

Pie Ranch, Pescadero, CA, USA

ID: LPM7

Relevant Skills: mechanical design

While there is a rise in the development of pasture-based animal agriculture, where multiple species are "stacked" in a managed rotation, there is a lack in efficient movable fencing systems. The existing "movable" fencing (pioneered in New Zealand with sheep) relies on people to set up and take down posts and wired/nylon rope fencing each time the animals need moving. This additional labor cost is a deterrent to more ranchers and farmers taking up this more ecological approach to raising animals. Therefore, there is a need to design a fencing system that can "roll" down pasture, hanging like a shower curtain. The idea would be to combine such a curtain with a rolling sprinkler water line that currently exists for irrigated pasture. Imagine such a water line that has a cantilevered fence with rolling supports that contains three sections: the first for cattle, the second for sheep, and the third for poultry. After the animals move through, the irrigation water is used to help get those animal nutrients available to the plant root zone.

The outcome would be a much more efficient way to hold and move animals on pasture, as well as optimize water placement on areas recently grazed. We are prepared to invest in the system the irrigation and fencing parts; we just do not have the resources to hire the engineers nor research facilities to develop the prototype and to help make it functional on the farm. We believe, if it works as envisioned, it would result in a very meaningful contribution to sustainable farming practices worldwide.