We are currently in the midst of lambing season. And calving season. And farrowing season. All of them. At the same time.
So we are spending lots of time checking in on late pregnant dams, recently calved/farrowed/lambed dams, newborn lambs/calves/piglets, & everyone else.
One of the biggest quality of life improvements that we've invested in has been barn cameras, which allow us to monitor animals in a limited space. So we have three cameras mounted in our sheep barn & one camera mounted in each farrowing crate to monitor...
For signs of impending lambing or active lambing
Lamb & ewe behavior (nursing, appetite, interactions with other animals, etc)
For signs of impending farrowing or active farrowing
Piglet & sow behavior (nursing, appetite, urination, defecation, etc)
Here's a quick clip from one of our sheep cameras
Here's a quick clip from one of our farrowing crate cameras
These are Arlo cameras, connected to WiFi originating from each barn. We chose these cameras because of the multiple mounting options, limited access (only my teaching partner & myself have access to the feeds), good video quality (including a low light/nighttime mode), & reasonable cost. I won't lie, they're kind of a pain to set up the first time, but once they're up, they're pretty good. They come with a magnetic mount & a permanent mount & I'd recommend if at all possible to use the permanent mount, as ours fall down sometimes (but, hey, they're hardy! They're still operational!)
At home, I have Eufy cameras, which I think would also work really well in a barn setting.
How have these changed our lives?
No more coming to the barn in the middle of the night to check on everyone - we're able to take a peek whenever we want & head over if something seems amiss
We're able to check the cameras any time throughout the day, whether students are there or not
If there is an issue when students are there, we can get a better idea of what's going on by checking the video feed
If we're wondering about something else (have animals been fed, what's the weather like at the barn), it's easy to pull the feed up on our phones & check
Despite the minor technical challenges that all cameras pose, they've been an amazing addition to our barns - I only wish I could get some set up for monitoring our pastured cows during calving!
Check them out!
