Virtual fencing is priced per neckband, with a minimum order of 20 and price breaks at 20, 40 and 60 units. On top of the neckbands you pay a small monthly connectivity charge per active collar, and a base station only if your pasture has no mobile coverage. Herd size and coverage decide your number.
The short version
- Minimum order is 20 neckbands, which is also the minimum herd size Gallagher recommends for training.
- Price breaks fall at 20, 40 and 60 units, so the per-head cost drops as the herd gets bigger.
- Connectivity is charged per active neckband per month, and you pay nothing for collars you are not running.
- Batteries are solar charged with a 7 to 10 year design life, so this is a long-cycle purchase, not an annual one.
- Suits cattle over 200 kg (440 lb) in herds of 20 or more. Not suitable for sheep or goats.
What exactly are you paying for?
Four things, and only one of them is large.
The neckbands. This is the bulk of the cost and it scales with herd size. They are bought outright rather than leased per head, and the price per unit steps down at 20, 40 and 60 units. There is a minimum order of 20, which is not an upsell. Gallagher recommends at least 20 animals for training, because cattle learn the boundaries as a group and a smaller mob does not establish the behaviour reliably.
The connectivity subscription. Each active neckband carries a small monthly charge. The important word is active. If you run seasonally and pull collars off over winter, you are not paying for them. Firmware and software updates are included rather than billed separately.
Connectivity hardware, only if you need it. On the Direct to Cellular system there is nothing further to buy, because it uses existing mobile networks rather than new towers. If your pasture has no usable signal, the Base Station system uses on-property LoRa stations instead, typically mounted on a shed roof or a windmill, and that station is a real capital item. You can run both on one property under one platform, which is the usual answer on ground with patchy coverage.
A neckband key, the tool for fitting and removing bands. Small, but budget for it.
The eShepherd range is quoted per operation rather than sold off a shelf, and that is not evasion. Terrain, coverage and herd size genuinely change the answer, and a number quoted without seeing your ground would be wrong.
What moves the number up or down?
Three things, in order of how much they matter.
Herd size, and it works in your favour. Because pricing steps down at 20, 40 and 60 units, the per-head cost of a 60 head system is meaningfully lower than a 20 head one. If you are sitting just below a break, it is worth pricing both sides of it before deciding.
Whether you need a base station. This is the single biggest swing in a quote. A cellular setup on ground with reliable signal avoids the on-property hardware entirely. The same herd on a remote lease with no coverage carries the base station cost on top. Check your coverage honestly before budgeting, because optimism here is expensive.
How long you run the collars each year. Connectivity is billed on active neckbands, so a seasonal grazing operation running six months carries roughly half the subscription of a year-round one. Factor your actual grazing calendar rather than twelve months by default.
What does not move much is the hardware life. Neckbands run solar charged lithium iron phosphate cells with a 7 to 10 year design life and an IPX7 waterproof rating. Spread the capital across that span rather than against one season, because that is the window the purchase actually earns over.
How does it compare with building fence?
Compare it against cross-fencing rather than your perimeter, because virtual fencing does not replace a boundary fence. You still need one.
Using the installed costs in our own farm fence installation cost guide, high tensile electric runs $1.50 to $4.00 a linear foot installed, which works out at roughly $4,900 to $13,100 per kilometre. That is the figure to hold a virtual fencing quote against, because it is the spend you are avoiding.
The comparison usually misses the point though. The fence you build sits where you built it. The collars move every morning from a phone. If your grazing plan involves shifting stock weekly across ground you would otherwise have to fence permanently, the question is not cost per kilometre, it is how many kilometres you never build at all. For construction standards on the perimeter fence you do still need, the Province of British Columbia publishes free factsheets in its Agricultural Fencing Handbook.
What does the sticker price leave out?
Labour, and it is the biggest hidden line on the conventional side of the comparison.
Our own cost guide puts labour at 50 percent or more of a fencing job, climbing 35 percent or more on rocky or brushy ground. On a $10,000 fencing project that is $5,000 before a post goes in, and the roughest country, which is exactly the ground most worth cross-fencing, is where that figure is worst.
Virtual fencing does not remove labour, it relocates it. The up-front work is training the herd across the first couple of weeks and fitting bands. After that, moving a boundary is a phone job rather than a day with a reel and a quad.
There is a second saving that is harder to price and worth naming. A fence you build is a fence you maintain. Wire gets broken by moose and machinery, posts heave, and every repair is a trip out. Reducing the kilometres of interior fence on the place reduces the inspection burden for as long as those kilometres stay unbuilt.
Set against that, virtual fencing introduces costs conventional fence does not have. You are maintaining neckbands, managing a subscription and depending on connectivity and batteries. Those are real, and they are why the system suits operations that move stock often and suits static operations poorly.
What are the limits worth knowing before you budget?
Three of them will decide whether this suits your operation at all, and none are about money.
Herd size and animal size. Gallagher recommends a minimum of 20 animals for training, and the neckbands suit most cattle breeds over 200 kg, about 440 lb, bulls included. That rules out calves below weaning weight.
Species. eShepherd is a cattle system. It is not suitable for sheep or goats, so a mixed operation is only partly addressable.
Coverage. Cellular uses existing mobile networks, so the question is simply whether your pasture has usable signal. Where it does not, the Base Station system works without mobile coverage at the cost of the on-property station.
Is virtual fencing worth it for your operation?
It pays where ground is hard to fence, where you move stock often, or where the fence you would otherwise build is temporary anyway.
If you run 20 or more head, your cattle are above 440 lb, you hold a perimeter fence already, and your grazing plan involves moving animals weekly or more, the economics work. The capital lands in year one and then the ongoing cost is a small monthly charge per collar, against hardware designed to last the better part of a decade.
It does not pay if your herd is under 20, if you run sheep or goats, if your stock are light, or if your pasture is already permanently fenced the way you want it and nothing moves. In those cases conventional electric fencing is cheaper and simpler, and we will tell you so rather than sell you collars.
The case where it wins most often is the middle one: a sound perimeter and little or no interior fencing. There you are comparing collars against kilometres you have not built yet, at $4,900 to $13,100 each, and the collars do not care where you want the line tomorrow.
For a quote against your own herd size, ground and coverage, talk to us about eShepherd. We will price the cellular and base station options side by side so you can see which way your coverage pushes the number. If you want to understand the containment side first, our explainer on virtual fencing and herd control covers how cattle learn the boundaries.
Common questions
How is virtual fencing priced?
Per neckband, bought outright rather than leased per head, with price breaks at 20, 40 and 60 units. On top of that you pay a small monthly connectivity charge for each active collar, plus a base station only if your pasture has no reliable mobile coverage.
Is there a minimum herd size?
Yes. The minimum order is 20 neckbands, and Gallagher recommends at least 20 animals for training. Cattle learn the boundaries as a group, and a smaller mob does not establish the behaviour reliably enough to depend on.
Do I still need a perimeter fence?
Yes. Virtual fencing replaces interior cross-fencing, not your boundary. You still need a stock-proof perimeter, both for containment if the system fails and because it is usually a legal and neighbourly requirement regardless of the technology inside it.
How long do the batteries last?
The neckbands use solar charged lithium iron phosphate cells with a 7 to 10 year design life and an IPX7 waterproof rating. A few hours of sunlight supports several days of operation, and larger panels are rated for 10 or more days in low light.
Can I use virtual fencing on sheep or goats?
No. eShepherd is designed for cattle and is not suitable for sheep or goats. It suits most cattle breeds over 200 kg, roughly 440 lb, including bulls, which also rules out younger calves.