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Quick Start Guide

The following steps give you a very short and concise list of activities that you will need to complete to get eShepherd up and running! For more information, scroll down the page to find a description for each step.

Solar Charge Neckband Batteries (2 - 3 days).
Install the Base Station (where applicable).
Learn the basic operation of the eShepherd Web App.
Un-hibernate (or turn ON) the Neckbands.
Confirm they are all communicating with the platform & flashing a green LED.
Fit the Neckbands to Animals.
Associate Neckbands with Animals on the Web App.
Create a Mob on the eShepherd Web App.
Review Animal Training guidelines and prepare the Training Virtual Paddock.
Release animals to the paddock and Activate the Training Virtual Paddock.
Monitor their progress for 7 to 10 days.

Onboarding Guide

As you begin your eShepherd journey, there is a lot of new information to take in for both you and your animals! Please be patient during this time. The animals will need a week or two to learn how to respond to the audio tones and you will need that time to learn the basics of the eShepherd Platform!

Step 1: Solar Charge Neckbands

Once you receive your Neckbands, please unpack and get them exposed to direct sunlight to charge the battery before taking any further steps. We have to ship the neckbands with only a small amount of charge so they need a day or two of good sunshine to get them to an operational level.

Please note: The neckbands take 3 sunny days to fully charge, or up to a week during periods with limited sunlight, such as winter.

Here are some creative ways other customers have charged their neckbands

Step 2: Install Base Station (where applicable)

If you have purchased a LoRa Communication system, then you will need to install this in a location that provides the best radio communication coverage over your property. The eShepherd Customer Success team can help you identify these locations.
Follow the Base Station Installation Guide that you can download here.

Step 3: Learn the Basics

Familiarize yourself with the features of the eShepherd Web App. Read the following guides.

Step 4: Install the Mobile App

Install the eShepherd Mobile app on your phone by following the guide here.

Step 5: Un-hibernate Neckbands

After the Neckbands have been exposed to direct sunlight for a few days, you are ready to un-hibernate or 'turn them ON' (see instructions here). Please take care during this process - it can be very easy to miss a Neckband or not turn it ON properly, and later it can be very difficult to find that one Neckband that has not come out of hibernation!

Once the Neckbands have been un-hibernated, it can take an hour or two for them to connect to the network. During this time, the Neckbands LED might initially flash Orange and eventually start flashing Green. A Neckband must be flashing Green before it is put on animal!

Also note that the Neckbands LED will initially flash rapidly, but after an hour, the blink rate will drop to once every 10 seconds. The fast blink rate just makes it easier for you to see which Neckbands are ready to go on an animal.

Step 6: Check Operation

Once you have un-hibernated all of the Neckbands, you can confirm that they are all operational by logging in to the eShepherd web app at app.eshepherd.com and then navigating to the Neckbands - Unfitted Neckbands menu. Here you can sort the list by 'Last Updated' and check that all Neckbands have communicated within the last hour. You will also see the Neckbands appearing as a green triangle on the map.

If you are doing neckband connectivity testing, please stop reading here and jump over to our testing guide.

Step 7: Neckband Fitment

Please make sure that you have watched the neckband fitment instructions here.

Note: When animals are fitted with a Neckband for the first time, they will buck and jump around for a minute or two. Animals tend to settle down quicker when they have a group of friends to hang out with! Just make sure they have a safe space to run around in during these first few minutes!

Take your time during your first Neckband fitment session to ensure you get the fit correct. At worst, you will fit the Neckbands too tight and run the risk of causing chaffing or rubbing sores. Fitting them too loose might mean that some Neckbands come off over the animals head.
With time and experience, you will become better at this and you will be able to judge if the fitment is just right. We recommend that if you are not confident, then make the fitment slightly looser. This might mean a Neckband will come off the animal but at least there are no animal welfare concerns.

Step 8: Neckband Association

Every Neckband has a unique ID and this can be 'associated' with either a visual tag or an electronic identification tag on the animal (or both!).

This process is described in the User Guide that you can download here.

If you are not interested in tracking which Neckband is on which Animal, then you can use the Neckband ID as the primary identifier for the Animal. The process to do this is described in this guide.

As soon as you have 'created' your animals on the eShepherd platform, the Neckband icon (green triangle) will turn into a rounded Animal icon. This is now ready to be put into a mob or herd.

Step 9: Creating a Mob

Check out the following guides on how to create and manage your mob:

Step 10: Setup Virtual Training Paddock

Check out the following guides on how to set up your training paddock:

How to create or copy virtual paddocks (new)

Check out the guide on how to setup your training paddock here.

Step 11: Release Animals to Paddock

Check out the following guides on how to release your animals to the paddock:

How to introduce your animals to eShepherd

Step 12: Monitor Training Progress

Firstly, please be patient during the training period. Whist your animals may show fantastic signs of understanding how to respond, the best results are achieved when you give all of your animals plenty of time to adjust to this new way of being contained.

During this time, keep the virtual fence very simple and easy to navigate. If you need to allocate more pasture to your mob during the training period, do this only by 'extending' the virtual paddock to increase the area - do not 'jump' to a new pasture allocation where the virtual fence boundary might suddenly change direction!

You can also gauge their progress from the training icons in the app. Each animal — and each mob — shows a yellow L plate icon while it is still learning. As the animals learn to respond to the audio tone without needing a pulse at the virtual fence boundary, they progress towards being trained.

Once an animal or mob is responding reliably to the audio tone alone, its icon changes to a graduation hat, a good indication that they have learned how to respond correctly.

But again, please be patient! Give all of your animals plenty of time to adjust to these new boundaries. Just like people, some animals need more time to learn a new skill, and others will pick it up quickly. In time, they will all adjust and you will have fantastic control of your pasture allocations and reap the benefits of high intensity rotational grazing practices!

v1.1, 11/2025

Updated on: 20/06/2026

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