The HBLFA Raumberg-Gumpenstein, the Sölktäler Nature Park, and the Liezen District Chamber of Agriculture launched the "Pasture GPS" project this summer (2019). GPS trackers, originally used for vehicle monitoring, are being adapted and used to determine the location of grazing animals. Three companies are participating in this project with their products: Infostars (with a battery-powered tracker and a rechargeable battery tracker), Simpletrack (with a rechargeable battery tracker), and Qtrack (with a battery-powered tracker).

Cattle and sheep are herd animals and generally stay together in the pastures. For smaller groups, one or two GPS trackers are used; for larger groups that are spread out, each group receives a tracker. Currently, 78 farms with 138 trackers are participating in this project. Part of the cost of the devices was covered by the Styrian government and the Sölktäler Nature Park.

Initial experience showed that the devices transmitted their location data even with poor mobile network coverage. Using the tracker's location data, herders can see the current whereabouts of their animals on their mobile phones or desktop computers and locate them directly. The time saved searching for animals in complex pastures is enormous and significantly reduces the workload for the alpine staff. Based on the positive experiences of users, other farms have already contacted the company, planning to equip their animals with GPS trackers next year.

A recent case demonstrates the advantages of GPS tracking. The bell belonging to the cow "Rosalie," which also had a GPS tracker attached, went missing. Tourists took the bell as a souvenir. Thanks to the GPS signal, the bell was found in Germany, recovered by the police, and returned to its owner.

An additional benefit of this technique is that the grazing intensity on individual pasture areas can be determined using the positional data. This can be a tool for pasture optimization in the next grazing season.