Barn Cams

[Haviris]

So for those that have them, can you tell me alittle about them? How much do they generally cost? How easy or difficult are they to set up? And anything else you can think to tell me?

I am new to minis, I have two that may have foals next year, that may be it for me, don't really plan to do much miniature horse breeding, but I do breed Nigerian Dwarf goats and spend alot of my time running from the house to the barn and back checking on goats and think it might be worth having! And think it wouldn't hurt to have it when the mares do foal, I rarely miss a kidding, but horses seem to be harder to predict! And it sure would save me alot of unnecessary barn runs!

 

[Jill]

I have a Swann Nighthawk system that I love and bought last year then added cameras. We have 5 cameras but can only use 4 at one time. They can be bought very inexpensively now refurbished. It was sooooo easy to set up and we use it on a spare tv in the bedroom. It's just such a good thing to have. This year we added a foal halter buzzer and we are really loving the combination (camera carries sound as well as video). These cameras work awesome for us and the night vision is perfect even in a pitch dark stall. Highly, highly recommended!!!

http://www.swannstore.com/store/cart.php?t...tring=nighthawk

 

[wcr]

I couldn't live without my barn cams. I have it in the bedroom and just glance up to check without really waking up or running down to the barn throughout the night. You can get them for around $300 and they are well worth the money.

 

[Joanne]

The prices have really come down from what they were when I originally bought mine fifteen years ago.

Only you can decide if they are worth it for the goats. I could not live without mine for the horses during foaling time and have over the years added more cameras for different reasons.

We now have five cameras set up. Four in the foaling barn. We started out with two and expanded over the years. The last one was just added two years ago to the multi purpose side of our barn. It is set up in a stall where I can put overflow mares with their newborns or monitor a new horse or sick horse.

We are always discussing how wonderful these are for foaling, but they are indispensable when you have a sick horse or a new horse to see what they are doing when you are not there.

As the commercial says "Priceless".

 

[Carolyn R]

We are always discussing how wonderful these are for foaling, but they are indispensable when you have a sick horse or a new horse to see what they are doing when you are not there.
As the commercial says "Priceless".

I couldn't agree more. I keep my numbers small, but when I still had my "medically challanged" large horses, my camera was priceless. It puts your mind at ease.

 

[deb s]

I have two mares due in a couple of weeks. I had the topic of cams on the forum two weeks ago. I purchased 2 foal buzzers, one for each mare. The buzzer is a metal box that attaches to the halter behind the ears. When the mare lays flat out it buzzes. The buzzing is picked up by a baby monitor, which transmits it to the the receivers which you can carry around the house or yard. Good only when the mare is in the barn and has the halter on.

I did purchase a 3 camera set of the Swann nighthawk wireless system. I purchased it off of amazon for $121.99 plus shipping for a new system. My son and I set everything up, it was easy to do, we are using just two cameras. We had a small tv in the barn so we could see the camera image as we set them up. We took the tv and receiver to the house to set it up for the viewing. The max distance from cameras to receiver is 150 feet. I have a wood barn with metal roof that is about 120 feet from the house, so the cameras are about 150 feet from the receiver, the image is poor. Also being wireless, the cordless phones and wireless router interfers with the system. I just got the system on wed of this past week. I am going to try again to get it hooked up today. I'll let you know how I make out.

Deb

 

[Taylor Jo]

I have two mares due in a couple of weeks. I had the topic of cams on the forum two weeks ago. I purchased 2 foal buzzers, one for each mare. The buzzer is a metal box that attaches to the halter behind the ears. When the mare lays flat out it buzzes. The buzzing is picked up by a baby monitor, which transmits it to the the receivers which you can carry around the house or yard. Good only when the mare is in the barn and has the halter on.
I did purchase a 3 camera set of the Swann nighthawk wireless system. I purchased it off of amazon for $121.99 plus shipping for a new system. My son and I set everything up, it was easy to do, we are using just two cameras. We had a small tv in the barn so we could see the camera image as we set them up. We took the tv and receiver to the house to set it up for the viewing. The max distance from cameras to receiver is 150 feet. I have a wood barn with metal roof that is about 120 feet from the house, so the cameras are about 150 feet from the receiver, the image is poor. Also being wireless, the cordless phones and wireless router interfers with the system. I just got the system on wed of this past week. I am going to try again to get it hooked up today. I'll let you know how I make out.

Deb

Please do cause my barn which is metal is about 150 ft from my house and I'd like to know if it would work or not. I just went on the web site that Jill put up and for a refubished set with 2 cameras it's around 67.00. Thanks, TJ

 

[Haviris]

Thank you, thank you, thank you! Very helpful, and yes it would be very worth it for my goats, I have been a several kiddings that I don't think would have gone to well w/out me. And I have brought sick goats inside the house because I didn't want to leave them outside alone.

Can you it be used on more then one tv at a time?

And Deb S please let me know how yours goes, my bedroom is fairly close to the barn, in fact I have a balcony and to check on them I step out on it and can see them, but I can't see them well and there are places they can go I can't see.

I've only got one doe due this year, so not sure how much use it'd get this year, but I'm thinking it wouldn't hurt to get some practice in on working it!

 

[Jill]

Our furthest barn that we use the Swann Nighthawk cameras in is over 200 (H says about 250) feet but it's wood w/ a wood/shingle roof. Image is crystal clear and there are trees and some sheds in between it and the house. I use one up closer, about 100' from the house, and it's also crystal clear but not any clearer than the further away cams (which couldn't be any clearer). I know the cameras can be effected by cordless phones and wireless internet from what others post, but we have both these things w/ NO interference. Here the only thing that scrambles it is the microwave. My hunch is that our wireless internet and cordless phones are on a higher or different frequency than are our cameras and receiver (?).

 

[Matt73]

I got an awesome one for $100. It's colour and has the most amazing night vision too! It's like I'm right in the stall

It's a colour CCD Camera. Can't really see the brand name. Hmmmm. On the box it says: Colour CCD Camera, PTL 1016, 1/3" colour CCD camera, system: NTSC, Power: DC 12V

I can't get over the quality for what we paid for it. We have a cable running from the barn to the house.