No wires, no posts: Will West Vic farmers flock to virtual fencing?
GPS-guided cattle collars are now legal, but the RSPCA is worried about malfunctions and stress on animals.
Zara Cuthbertson
February 18, 2026
After decades of restrictions on electronic livestock collars, Victoria has changed animal welfare laws and approved its first virtual fencing system.
The move clears the way for farmers to use GPS-guided collars to herd and monitor cattle.
What happened? The state government announced on Wednesday that the Halter P5 electronic collar system is the first to be approved in Victoria for virtual fencing.
What’s that? Virtual fencing is a system that enables livestock such as cattle to be herded or confined through the use of collars with coordinates and sensors.
New Zealand tech company Halter’s P5 system features a collar connected to an app, allowing farmers to fence, move and monitor the wellbeing of their cows and check pasture conditions.
The remote, hands-free nature of the technology promises to reduce workload by herding or moving cattle through the collar’s cues, and reduce costs by limiting the requirement of physical fencing.
How does it work? According to Halter’s website, beef cattle are trained over seven to 10 days to respond to what are primarily sound and vibration cues.
If cattle step outside of the set boundary, a sound cue will play from either the right or left side of the collar, directing them away from the sound and back into the area set by the farmer.
If they ignore sound cues, they will receive a “low-energy electric pulse”, which Halter describes as “one tenth of the regulated maximum energy of an electric fence”.
When it’s time to rotate paddocks, a vibration cue confirms to cattle when they’re facing the right direction, encouraging them to move to the fresh grass - if a cow stops walking, the vibrations begin again until they’re moving in the right direction again.
An established market: The collars are legal in Tasmania, Western Australia, Queensland and New Zealand, and on December 10, 2025, Victoria announced new regulations giving farmers access to virtual fencing and herding technology.
New South Wales also jumped on board last year.
Welfare concerns: The RSPCA opposed virtual fencing in August 2025, calling the collars “aversive and punishment-based” and arguing efficiency shouldn’t come at the cost of the animal’s welfare.
“The RSPCA has significant ethical and animal welfare concerns about the use of devices that are designed to electrically shock animals,” it said.
The animal welfare organisation cited potential malfunctions, unpredictability from a lack of visual cues and potential mental and physical stress from shocks on cattle as “serious concerns”.
Rolling out: A second product is being considered by the state government, which has encouraged other Victorian manufacturers to apply for approval.
Approvals are reliant on accurate record keeping and reporting, use of approved technology, training provided by the manufacturer, maintaining physical boundary fences or barriers and ensuring collars are checked regularly.
Electronic collars for livestock species other than cattle can only be used when a scientific licence has been granted by the state.