Page 44 - Green knowledge 2023

E-bells for insight into outfield grazing
While half of holidaying Norwegians ventured abroad this summer, almost two million Norwegian sheep embarked on a domestic vacation. Around five percent of them wear e-bells, providing a unique source of knowledge on the use of forest and mountain pastures in Norway.
E-bells, also known as radio bells, enable farmers to monitor the summer adventures of their sheep. Marit Mjøen Solem is both a sheep farmer and the managing director of the company FindMy, which produces e-bells. She explains that e-bells offer valuable information about where the sheep spend their vacation.
“Sheep are creatures of habit. Ewes with adult daughters and lambs form small family flocks that visit the same grazing areas year after year. Grazing areas are passed down from ewes to lambs for generations. Within the grazing area, weather conditions significantly influence their choice of loca- tion. E-bells also help farmers keep better track and, for example, assist sick animals,” she says.
The sheep’s summer holiday is, in many ways, a food journey. Analyses conducted by NIBIO show a strong
correlation between pasture quality and sheep grazing, but there can be significant individual differences. If the e-bells indicate that family flocks are staying in poorer parts of the grazing area, farmers can use salt licks or implement other measures to guide the sheep to the best areas.
Michael Angeloff has conducted analyses comparing e-bell data with results from vegetation mapping. His focus is on how the various data sources about sheep and grazing quality can contribute to increased knowledge about outfield grazing.
“E-bell data opens up an entirely new field of research. Now we can study the behaviour of freely roaming animals. In addition to being a useful tool for livestock owners, e-bells provide knowledge that can help solve challenges related to outfield grazing,” he says.
Photo: Morten Günther
Purpose:
Collaboration: Funding:
Contact:
By combining information from e-bells with the results of vegetation mapping, valuable insights into the use of outfield areas by grazing animals can be gained. This is useful for farmers and municipal land planning.
Grazing cooperatives
NIBIO’s core funding (CU funds) and various other sources of funding
Lead Engineer Michael Angeloff. Email: michael.angeloff@nibio.no, phone: (+47) 975 38 594. Division of Survey and Statistics
42