Article #1: How to Choose the Right Calving Camera System

Choosing a calving camera system sounds simple until you try to make it work on a real farm. The internet is usually at the house, the animals are in a barn hundreds or thousands of feet away, the building may be metal, and the camera has to work in cold, heat, dust and humidity. The right system is not simply the camera with the longest specification list. It is the system that fits the farm and lets you clearly see the animal when you need to.

Riverwind has been building barn camera systems since 1997 and is approaching 40,000 cameras shipped for livestock operations. Cattle and calving are our largest market, but the same basic design questions apply to horses, sheep, goats and swine.

Start With the Farm, Not the Camera

The first questions are practical: Where is your internet connection? How far is the barn from the house? Do you want to watch on phones and computers, on a dedicated television, or both? How many areas need coverage? Do you need recording? Are fixed cameras enough, or would a pan-tilt-zoom camera be useful?

Those answers determine the system. Riverwind uses high-definition analog cameras, IP cameras, or a combination of both. High-definition analog connects with a BNC-style camera cable, does not give every camera its own IP address, is usually less expensive, and today's picture quality for livestock monitoring is very close to comparable IP equipment. IP cameras use Ethernet and add networking flexibility; our pan-tilt-zoom cameras are IP-based. On many farms we use high-definition analog in the main barn for simplicity and savings, IP cameras at secondary locations, and program the views to appear together as one system.

You Do Not Necessarily Need Internet at the Barn

A common misconception is that conventional Wi-Fi must reach the barn before you can have cameras there. It does not. Riverwind can use commercial wireless bridge equipment to carry the house network between buildings. That is different from trying to make individual Wi-Fi cameras reach the house.

If you also want ordinary Wi-Fi in the barn for your phone, tablet or laptop, that can be added. You can purchase an appropriate router yourself and connect it to the Riverwind network equipment. Providing general-purpose Wi-Fi is not our primary business, but we will help you through tying the router into the system.

Why We Do Not Rely on Consumer Wi-Fi Cameras

Consumer Wi-Fi cameras look appealing because you mount them, plug them into an outlet and connect them to a router. On a farm, that simplicity can disappear quickly. Metal buildings, weak signal, router replacements, changing network settings and the barn environment itself can all create problems. At 2:00 in the morning when it is zero degrees outside and you have an animal in labor, you do not want to troubleshoot a camera or an IP address. You want to see the animal.

There is also a practical power issue. The best camera location often does not have a convenient 120-volt outlet. Commercial camera systems can carry low-voltage power and video/data over the camera cabling, so you are not forced to install an electrical outlet at every camera location.

Choose the Viewing Method That Fits You

Our High-Definition system normally places the DVR/control equipment at the barn and is designed for viewing on phones, tablets and computers. If reliable internet is already available at the barn, this can be a particularly economical setup.

Our Hybrid system can bring cameras back to equipment at the house so you can keep a dedicated television on while also viewing on phones, tablets and computers. The local television view can continue to operate even if the outside internet service goes down, provided the local equipment has power.

For farms with no reliable internet at all, Riverwind also offers a Standalone system that creates its own local network and displays the cameras on a television without outside internet.

Fixed Cameras, PTZ Cameras, or Both?

Fixed cameras are excellent when you want continuous coverage of specific pens or areas. PTZ cameras are excellent in larger open spaces because you can move and zoom the camera and use presets to jump instantly between important locations.

The best systems often use both. A PTZ may cover a large open barn while fixed cameras provide uninterrupted views and recordings of critical pens. The layout, ceiling height, walls, viewing distance and recording needs determine the mix.

Recording Can Be as Important as Live Viewing

Live video tells you what is happening now. Recording tells you what happened before you looked. If you wake up and see a cow down, reviewing the previous 10 minutes, 30 minutes or two hours can tell you how long labor has been progressing and help you decide whether it is time to intervene.

The Real Value Is Checking More Often

The biggest benefit of a barn camera system is not the technology. It is that checking the barn takes seconds instead of getting dressed, walking or driving outside and discovering that nothing has changed. When checking is easy, producers check more often. More frequent checks make it more likely that a developing problem is noticed before it becomes a lost animal.

A camera does not replace being in the barn when you are needed. It helps you know when you are needed.

That also gives producers freedom to leave the farm or check remote locations without continually driving there. You can still keep an eye on the livestock in real time and return when the cameras tell you that you are actually needed.

What Riverwind Does Before It Ships

Riverwind does not travel to the farm to install the system. We design the system around your application, program and pair the equipment, test it, label it and ship it ready for physical installation. You should not have to become a network technician just to monitor livestock.

The right calving camera system is the one designed around your farm, your buildings and the way you actually want to watch your animals.