The Minister of Rural Environment, María José Gómez, has highlighted a new pilot project for virtual fencing for cattle, designed to enhance natural clearing and strengthen the prevention of forest fires. The experience will begin in the municipality of Muíños in Ourense, with the intention that "it can be extended to other places in Galicia."
During the presentation of the initiative this Friday, Gómez explained that "this project arises from that eagerness we have to protect the more than 30,000 rural nuclei we have in Galicia and to protect the secondary strips." She was accompanied at the event by the mayor of Muíños, Plácido Álvarez, the general director of Defense of the Mountain, Manuel Francisco, and the managing director of Seaga, Martín Martínez.
The head of Rural Environment emphasized that the proposal aims to "promote natural clearing" through extensive cattle grazing, using a system that monitors the GPS position of the animals and delineates their grazing area to "keep the secondary strips near homes free of brush."
Among the advantages of virtual fencing, the minister mentioned the ability to locate and send the GPS position of each animal every 10 minutes, the 24-hour monitoring of the behavior and routines of the cattle, as well as the option to prevent the animals from leaving a specific perimeter "previously defined by the farmer in his app."
"Everything adds up and we will continue to extend this project throughout the rest of Galicia," said María José Gómez, who emphasized that it is a technology "very useful and 100% Galician" for "the management of cattle, the improvement of the quality of life of farmers, and the prevention of fires."