do you leave lights on in cow/cattle sheds

whelan1

at night?

severeoversteer

that's the last thing I thought as I left the shed half an hour ago, left one light on by the way

jersey101

Always leave it on for milkibg cows and dry cows. If they weren't on cows just walk on each others bags especially on a straw bed. Weanlings never really but started this year, seem a bit happier

Dont be daft

Only so everyone passing will think we're working late every night

Ah no, seriously, why would you? Security? Cameras?

dzer2

never.

rs8

only with cows

Marooned75

Don't normally have done tonight

Kovu

Always do, a low wattage eco one , and a radio during the calving time too.

bbam

Not with weanlings.
Used to with calving camera.

Seriously, they don't need it.

Blue Crystal

Never. Would hate to get caught on camera balls deep in a heifer

whelan1

i only leave them on til i check cows at night, takes a few minutes for lights to heat up. If there was a cow going to calve i would leave light on as the calving shed is at back of house and i can see easily

Rho b

Never bother leaving a light on with calves, weanling or dry stock. We do with sucklers and feeding cows. My brother put up additional cabling in some of the sheds a few years ago so we could use the low wattage bulbs
Years ago when a youngster I was checking the sucklers with a flash lamp before heading to bed. Most of them were lying on a very deep straw bed and I was stepping between them.
I stood on a fecking rat and the squeals of it frightened the bejaysus out of me. I honestly don't think I have been the same since.

dar31

on a timer, off at 12 and back on at 5

nhg

We have the lights on a dusk to dawn sensor in the slatted sheds (drystock)

IPFree

http://www.agrilight.nl/advice-on-lighting/lighting-advice-for-dairy-cattle/

Found this for very good explanation on light requirements. Cows eyes are way different to ours and can see nearly as good at night as day, I think I read that somewheres anyway.
Timer here turns em off @10 and on @6.

Sharpshooter82

FIL leaves the lights on in the shed at night as he reckons the cattle will eat more as a result

Joebobs

Hi
So ive beef cattle in a new shed. Is the only reason i should keep a light on at night is to encourage them to eat more? or could one of them freak out in the night and end up walking on others? Ive tried google but no luck on why and why not etc
Thanks

Noveight

Funny you should bump this one Joebobs, it was only early this evening I saw this video on Facebook. Lightbulb burst over straw pen and caught fire. Lucky they had lads nearby had an extinguisher.

Link - https://www.facebook.com/zwemmerdf/videos/2468806816678732/

_Brian

Cattle evolved to survive at night in the dark.

Joebobs

_Brian wrote: »

Cattle evolved to survive at night in the dark.

Thats true but no in a pen... ive a manual on off switch .. in hindsight i should have had a switch to allow a automatic light to come on until dawn...kinda setup.. maybe the all night light is only needed for cows?

Joebobs

Noveight wrote: »

Funny you should bump this one Joebobs, it was only early this evening I saw this video on Facebook. Lightbulb burst over straw pen and caught fire. Lucky they had lads nearby had an extinguisher.

Link - https://www.facebook.com/zwemmerdf/videos/2468806816678732/

Jesus that fire would have gotten out of control...ive easyfix so who kmow what could happen there...

charolais0153

Joebobs wrote: »

Jesus that fire would have gotten out of control...ive easyfix so who kmow what could happen there...

Theres absolutely no need for lights on

Dakota Dan

I leave a couple of lights on more for convenience when I'm checking them and milking at the crack of dawn as the light switch is at the opposite end of the yard from the house. Two led lights don't burn much electricity when left on at night.

Joebobs

Its a pitty we dont have any technical pros cons on stuff like this in eire considering our beef is so good...umh maybe i could do something here.....
Farmers journel is great...but i dont find everything im looking for there even with access to archives.. i wonder if we had a site for irish farmers (with expert info like from Temple Grandin), im way off thread now but whats our nearest verion of Temple Grandin i wonder

Buford T. Justice XIX

I leave the light on for the first night or two and never after, just so first calves get their bearings.

But as someone said earlier, they can see much better than we can at night.

Wessel3

i recently fitted a LED light running of a car battery in a shed with no power. runs of a timer 2 hours AM and 3 hours PM. ive noticed silage intakes up slightly as they seem to be able to stand at the feeder longer. cattle are below 1 yr old.

Muckit

Where does it end? It'll be netflix next they'll want

Buford T. Justice XIX

Muckit wrote: »

Where does it end? It'll be netflix next they'll want

Sorted already:P
https://twitter.com/lelyrobotman/status/953649347069202432

L1985

I have been wondering this. We turn on the lights until 10pm with the hens to encourage them to lay. We don't leave any on for the cows and cattle. I was wondering would they get more stressed as their natural rhythms would be out.../I could imagine they would eat more but I would have concerns over health longer term..: really not sure thou so interested in people's thoughts on this. I'm thinking of leaving them on until 10 or so as I push in silage to them at 6:30 in the evening. We never lost an animal in th cubicles at night-always during the day over some stupid thing.

patsy_mccabe

Onl leave a light on here if a cow is near or at calving. The calving camera has night vision but quality is reduced.

Wessel3

I have noticed higher DMI from silage since leaving lights for another hour in the evening.

came across this if anyone is interested:
http://articles.extension.org/pages/25470/effect-of-photoperiod-on-feed-intake-and-animal-performance