Counting losses: when goats go missing, so can a family’s future

Every year, countless goats and sheep disappear from herds due to theft, predation, accidents, or simply because they stray too far from their owners. For pastoralists and smallholder farmers, these losses can have devastating financial consequences.

Satellite-enabled livestock tracking can help change this reality. By combining GPS positioning with reliable satellite connectivity, even in the most remote grazing area, our dedicated Argos solution gives herders greater visibility over their animals, helping them detect unusual movements, respond faster to incidents, and better protect their livelihoods.

But before exploring how technology can help, it’s important to understand what losing a single animal really means.

A goat is more than livestock

For hundreds of millions of rural families worldwide, goats and sheep are not simply farm animals, they are financial security.

According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), small ruminants are among the most important livestock species for smallholder farmers because they require relatively little investment, adapt well to harsh environments, reproduce quickly, and provide multiple sources of income through milk, meat, fibre and breeding. They also act as a form of savings that families can sell in times of need.

A goat might pay school fees, it might cover medical expenses, it might feed a family through the dry season. For many households, livestock is the closest thing to a bank account.

When one animal disappears, the financial shock is immediate, and often impossible to absorb.

An invisible challenge affecting herders worldwide

Livestock losses occur for many reasons.

Animals can fall victim to predators, become injured, wander away from grazing areas or be stolen. In remote rangelands, where herds often graze over vast distances, owners may not realise an animal is missing until hours, or even days, later.

Across Africa, Asia and Central Asia, these challenges are becoming increasingly significant.

In South Africa, livestock theft has become one of the country’s most serious rural crimes. According to official statistics, livestock theft has cost the country over R7 billion over the last five years (around 420 million USD), with the true impact likely to be higher because many incidents go unreported. The consequences extend beyond financial losses, affecting food security, farmer confidence and rural livelihoods.

Recent Statistics South Africa data also show that goats are the most frequently stolen livestock species, ahead of cattle and sheep, highlighting their vulnerability and their value within rural economies.

Similar challenges exist elsewhere.

In India and Pakistan, goats and sheep often graze on communal lands where monitoring every animal is difficult. In Kyrgyzstan, shepherds manage flocks across mountainous terrain where locating a missing animal can take hours or even days.

As rural areas become increasingly connected by roads and expanding urban settlements, opportunities for organised livestock theft continue to grow.

For families whose wealth is measured in animals, losing even one goat can represent months of income disappearing overnight.

The challenge isn’t finding animals. It’s finding them in time.

Traditional herding relies on experience, regular headcounts and local knowledge.

These methods have served pastoral communities for generations, and they remain essential today.

However, when herds roam across thousands of hectares or into areas without mobile coverage, reacting quickly to an incident becomes increasingly difficult. This is where satellite-enabled monitoring adds value.

Rather than replacing traditional practices, it provides an additional layer of awareness. Knowing where an animal is, and when something unusual happens, can make the difference between recovering it and losing it forever.

From location to behaviour: understanding what the herd is telling us

Modern livestock monitoring is no longer limited to displaying dots on a map. GPS tracking can reveal grazing routes, seasonal movements and preferred pasture areas. More importantly, it can identify behaviours that deserve immediate attention such as:

• An animal remaining motionless for an unusual period.
• A sudden burst of speed.
• A rapid departure from its normal grazing area.

These patterns may indicate injury, predation or theft. Receiving an alert within minutes allows herders to investigate while there is still an opportunity to act.

Over time, movement history also helps improve grazing management, monitor pasture use and better understand herd behaviour throughout the seasons.

Connected beyond mobile coverage

Many grazing areas are located far beyond the reach of terrestrial communication networks.

In these environments, satellite connectivity becomes essential. Satellite tracking collars, such as CollarSAT, combine GPS positioning with satellite communication to transmit an animal’s location even where there is no cellular coverage.

Integrated within a broader herd management platform, this information provides near real-time visibility of livestock movements while enabling geofencing, movement alerts and long-term behavioural analysis.

By combining satellite connectivity with Earth Observation data, herders can also gain a broader understanding of grazing conditions and pasture availability, supporting both livestock protection and more sustainable rangeland management.

While devices such as the CollarSAT cannot prevent every theft or every predator attack, it can help prevent avoidable losses before they become irreversible by providing timely information.

As climate change, land-use pressures and rural development continue to reshape grazing systems around the world, improving visibility over livestock is becoming increasingly important.

Sometimes, protecting a family’s future begins with knowing exactly where its animals are.