Mare watching systems

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Charlotte

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I keep having people ask how to get set up to watch their mares. So ..........

What kind of survelience system do you have for foal watch?

What kind of camera? Wired? Wireless?

What are your stalls like?

How many mares can you watch with one camera?

What kind of monitor?

Can your monitor view more than one camera?

What kind of lighting do you use?

How far is your house from barn?

What do you like and not like about your set up?

Is there anything interesting or unusual about your situation or system that would be good to pass on?

I'll start this off with our set up

This is what we see on one of our monitors (the parallel sisters)

P1010006.jpg


*This is a wired system from Sam's Club

*The stalls are welded bars

*We can watch 4 mares per camera

* The monitor is part of the system....12" I think

*Each monitor can view 4 cameras

*we use clamp lights with 40 to 75 wat bulbs depending on the light we need....aimed at the ceiling so as to not leave too much shadow.

*the barn is about 250 ' from the house

Our cameras are aimed at the center row of stalls and you look through those to the stalls on the east side of the barn. This system has worked wonderfully for us for 15 years however we have just recently lost 2 lines (in buried conduit) so can only use 2 cameras. We acquired a wireles system from Radio Shack to have as back up. It doesn't transmit through metal walls, but we have windows over every stall so I think it will work in a pinch.

I guess that's our system

Charlotte

p.s. I just realized....I have a family protrait in that picture...almost LOL The two closest horses are full sisters...Paradigm on the left and Buttons on the right. Across the aisle from Buttons is Lace, their dam. And Cowboy is directly behind the camera! He's their sire.
 
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What kind of survelience system do you have for foal watch?

I have an older Radio Shack wired camera

What kind of camera? Wired? Wireless?

Radio Shack wired

What are your stalls like?

8 X 8 solid on 3 sides with 'race horse' stall gates that are open to the floor. What I like about them is that they can lift off and be out of the way in case of an emergency. My foaling barn has 4 stalls and a center aisle. Fully enclosed barn.

How many mares can you watch with one camera?



My camera is set up to watch 2 stalls at a time.

What kind of monitor?

A 13" TV.

Can your monitor view more than one camera?

No.

What kind of lighting do you use?

Floodlights or spotlights over each stall.

How far is your house from barn?

Less than 100'.

What do you like and not like about your set up?

I like being able to watch my mares on the TV by my bed without ever getting up at night!

Is there anything interesting or unusual about your situation or system that would be good to pass on?

I recommend anybody foaling out miniature mares to have a camera, monitor and a Breeder Alert or Equipage system. The two together can't be beat and are a necessity to getting live foals!
 
What kind of survelience system do you have for foal watch?

I have a breeder alert (4 pouches) and cameras

What kind of camera? Wired? Wireless?

I have 2 cameras an older phillips that uses telephone wire and a different one that uses cables

What are your stalls like?

I have 2 16x16 wood foaling stalls each has an attached pen one is about 60x60 the other is about I dont know guessing I would say 20x30

I also have a 24x16 run with a 20x30 pen as well we use in a pinch otherwise it becomes the nursery

How many mares can you watch with one camera?

I have one camera in each stall and then "nursery" going to install one in the main barn as well

Each monitor

Each monitor can watch up to 4 cameras not a split screen

What kind of monitor?

One is Phillips not sure on the other one

Can your monitor view more than one camera?

Yes

What kind of lighting do you use?

We have dusk to dawn floodlights just outside the stalls which light up enough for the camera.

How far is your house from barn?

Foaling stalls are well the pen is less then 30 ft

What do you like and not like about your set up?

I like it pretty much not sure what I would change (talking the foaling set up not the whole facility that I can come up with plenty)

Is there anything interesting or unusual about your situation or system that would be good to pass on?

I love having the big foaling stalls. I dont know I would go any smaller to be honest. It is enough room for baby to really play and move in bad weather- enough room to give mom her space. I would I think maybe put "windows" higher up in the stall to add more light
 
What kind of camera? Wired? Wireless?

I have a wired barm cam

What are your stalls like?

16 by 16, corral panels, with big metal roof above. In the processes of adding fencing around the panels so babies can't go through, and so no one rubs off manes or steals food from neighbors ;)

How many mares can you watch with one camera?

The way I have it now, just one, though if I moved it I could see more

What kind of monitor?

A small TV

Can your monitor view more than one camera?

I would guess not?

What kind of lighting do you use?

None. My camera is infared in the dark, so I see perfectly, though black and white. I do have lights I could turn on if I wanted to though

How far is your house from barn?

Really close... less than 100ft for sure, probably less than 50 ft but I really don't know, I"m bad at judging distance ;)

What do you like and not like about your set up?

Hmm... I like it... it's my first camera, just got it this year, so... I'd like to have more cameras though. Someday I will... but since only one mare pregnant, one works... but I also like to just watch the horses while I"m in the house... ;)

Is there anything interesting or unusual about your situation or system that would be good to pass on?

I don't think so? I've read that metal and things that block the line of sight make wireless not work so well, so I went with wired... And now I need to get me an equipage...
 
We have 1 wireless camera per stall but we only have a few mares due at a time. The wireless receiver just plugs into the AV part of our regular TV and we can switch back and forth from the Dish to the cameras. I'm not sure what brand they are. I bought them off the web after I did some price compairing. They are IR so don't have to leave the lights on in the barn. The wireless transmitter and reciever I got again off the web no brand names that I can find which kinda bummed me out as I would like to find another set just like these.

I have an equipage also.....so when it goes off I can just turn the TV on and see what they are doing.

I don't know how big our TV is off the top of my head. When I need to watch more than one camera at a time I have a switcher that I can set to scroll through as many as 4 cameras if needed.
 
Right now I only have one wireless camera from Barn Cam. Would like to have more!! I really want to hardwire the barn. I have a 6 stall "big horse" barn, one stall is tack room and right now 4 are horse stalls(one stall still needs some work as it used to be the pig stall :smileypuke:) I have 4 mares prego and 2 are a week apart in March....so that's going to be a little tricky with one cam! :eek:
 
4 box stalls (12x12' metal prefab barn) with attached 12x24' runs, although we lock preggos in at night. we have wired Closed Circuit TV cameras on all 4 stalls and monitors (black and white) that can show 1 stall at a time, stalls in rotation, or a 4-stall split screen.

We also have various webcams that we can turn on - either static/refreshing still photos or streaming video.

I also use the equipage/equiphone system - it'll page me here at home and/or call my cell if I'm elsewhere. we have 4 alarms, but so far haven't had to be using more than 2 at a time.... that'll change soon, though!
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We use a Radio shack monitoring system and each camera can watch 2 mares. The system is a rotational system on a larger color tv monitor and we watch up to 10 mares at a time. You can elect to watch one camera and zero in or watch all at one time - or to set it up to rotate from stall to stall - which is my preferred setting as you can stop it with the remote on any set up.

Our stalls vary from 12X12 to 10X12 - all have a wire mesh open front system. Our barn has an apartment attached so someone stays in the apartment all through foaling season - it is about a 15 foot walk to the first stall when alerted. Our house is about 150 foot from the barn - but in the past, when we monitored the mares from the house, some mares foal so fast that by the time the system goes off - you wake up - check the monitor - get your coat and shoes on and run to the barn - we have had some foals born in the sack that we were barely able to get out quick enough - so we just move into the barn now.

We use an equipage system and we can monitor up to 14 mares at a time - we also have a backup equipage system in case we experience technical issues with any part of the system - and that has been a lifesaver over the years.

As Becky mentioned - a Camera, Monitor and Breeder Alert or Equipage system is a must and they go together - as being awakened a dozen of times a night with false alarms from the system drives you crazy without a monitor to check on the mare status and to stay up all night watching the monitor is impossible after a few days without a system to alert you and allow you some sleep and will drive you equally crazy.

Each year this system set up pays for itself many, many times over and then some.
 
Great information-Thanks. I am expecting my first foal "anyday now" and bought the equipage but have not bought the camera yet. With three false alarms and trips out to the barn at least 100 feet away with kids in tow and an ice storm-the camera is going to be purchased this week!! I will keep watching this thread to help with my decision. Thank you!!
 
We have a wired camera system that was new last year. 4 cameras and a monitor beside the bed. It can show 1, 2,or 4 cameras at a time aswell as rotate any pattern we need. When one is close we will rotate quad screeen and the mare closest and when we are very close I keep just that one mare on and manually check the other cameras every so often. Our cameras are color with infer red night vision (black and white at night).

We added an equipage last year. That was fantastic as after a while it got difficult to stay awake watching but now the page beeps and just look at monitor to check. Only problem with pager is one mare set it off dozens of times per night. Think she knew what she was doing the whole time.

We have 3 stalls we can use for foaling. One is 8x14 two are 8x12. Our mares are spread out foaling from March through Aug.

The barn is about 100' from house.

As for changes might make the next barn to use for foaling insulated with some sort of heat for emergency use when it is well below freezing.
 
we have a sam's system b/w also. our folaing "arena" is 50 x 50 outside more in a natual setting than in a stall. we have a 95% foaling rate, we don't breed the mares to foal until march when it warms up.

we have cameras to cover all of the arena with 3 monitors to view + one in the living room so we can watch it when we're watching tv. the foaling arena is just outside our bedroom . we have 2 smaller pens inside the arena that we put a mare/baby as soon as she has it so the other mares in the arena don't bother them.

we put the mare/baby back in with the stud when the baby is 3-5 days old.

SEE OUR NEW WEBSITE AT WWW.ROCKINGMFARM.COM
 

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