Gallagher eShepherd™ eS1 Recognised in Australia’s International Good Design Awards

Winners of Australia’s international design awards were announced on Friday 8 September at the 2023 Australian Good Design Awards attended by guests from the design and architecture community.

Gallagher eShepherd™ eS1 received a prestigious Good Design Award Winner Accolade in the Product Design category in recognition for outstanding design and innovation.

The Good Design Awards Jury commented,

“The benefits this project offers to the areas of mustering, pasture management and fence maintenance are potentially enormous — well done.”

The Good Design Awards are the highest honour for design and innovation in Australia and rewards diverse projects across 11 Design Disciplines covering more than 35 Categories and Subcategories. The 2023 Good Design Awards attracted over 900 high-quality design projects from around the world, evaluated by more than 70 Australian and international Jurors, including designers, engineers, architects and thought leaders.    

How did eShepherd stand out through this tough competition to take a top spot? Our story detailed the challenge that farmers around the world face, and how eShepherd’s innovative design will make an impact on farming efficiency and operations:

The Challenge

Physical fences are one of the oldest and most useful technologies in agriculture. However, they require significant capital investment for installation, ongoing maintenance costs and factors such as rough, inhospitable terrain or seasonal ecological grazing restrict where permanent fences can be installed. eShepherd offers a smarter, digital way to operationalise businesses and addresses some of the most significant problems cattle producers face, offering benefits to farmers’ lifestyles, the natural environments which they farm, and the bottom line of their farming operations.

The Gallager eShepherd eS1 Solution

Comprised of a solar-powered GPS-enabled neckband and cloud-based application to fence, farmers can easily move and monitor livestock by detecting and responding to animal behaviour. This endlessly and instantly adaptable fencing solution allows farmers manage livestock anywhere on their farm, breaking down difficult to fence paddocks into smaller grazing cells to run a more efficient and thriving pasture-based system. This improves pasture productivity by accessing more dry matter, avoiding overgrazing, and optimising pasture utilisation while reducing dependency of physical fencing resources, such as materials and skilled labour.

The Impact

eShepherd enables farmers to implement cell grazing or rotational grazing systems that are tailored to farm geography, vegetation, and seasonal variations. It enables sustainable land management and regenerative agriculture by providing an efficient method to change grazing patterns and ensure pastures are used effectively. The system connects with web and mobile applications that enable farmers to instantly fence, move and monitor livestock remotely, which may significantly reduce risk during emergency events and provides a precision livestock management system; monitoring each animal within the herd as an individual, ensuring no animal gets left behind and health issues can be proactively identified.

“To be recognised with an Australian Good Design Award tells the world this project not only represents design excellence, but it also surpasses the criteria for design innovation and design impact. The Good Design Award is an independent endorsement of professional design quality,” said Dr. Brandon Gien, CEO of Good Design Australia and Chair of the Australian Good Design Awards.

“The Good Design Awards recognise and celebrate the transformative power of design to find innovative, customer-centric solutions to local and global challenges. My sincere congratulations to all the designers, engineers, architects and innovators recognised in this year’s Awards - you deserve to be celebrated at the highest level possible,” Dr. Gien concluded.

eShepherd is being launched on specific beef farming operations across New Zealand. Submit your enquiry today and Gallagher will be in touch when eShepherd is suitable for you.