For the past couple weeks I have been trying to find the perfect video camera for our barn for kidding season. I am having no luck. Either it's took expensive, or has a temperature alarm that can't be turned off, or it doesn't have a wide enough angle lens, the list goes on. It's been a shopping nightmare. So there's got to be some of you out there that don't have a barn cam for kidding season, right? So what do you do so that you don't miss your goat kidding so that you can be there if there's a problem?
I use to just make a million trips to the barn and never left the house. I never missed one but my girls all kidded in the day time. The camera made life a million times easier I can watch from the comfort of my bed or from town ( Ive caught several starting & rushed home) . I've got the yi dome camera it rotates so I can see a good bit & the yi home pretty cheap no temp alarm and it works even at -30. the only thing.
We never had cams. When kidding season hits we check goats daily for pending signs. If anyone looks or acts close..we check more often. Once they are serious about having the kids I stay with them.
When Drom kidded the first time we didn’t have a camera set up and didn’t know her actual due date, just an estimate. It was rough! I have to be honest. For the two weeks before her approximate date we checked every two hours, then as she started getting closer every hour...my daughter and I took shifts then we took every other hour. Here’s the link to it. https://www.thegoatspot.net/threads/andromeda-is-getting-close.201939/ Finally, I bought these: and life’s been good ever since, you will need an old tv or monitor to view it though. They were only $150 https://www.amazon.com/SMONET-Wirel...jbGlja1JlZGlyZWN0JmRvTm90TG9nQ2xpY2s9dHJ1ZQ==
Go out in the night at least once during the night. When it is getting closer to their kidding date, within the week of, try to go out every couple of hours. Watch them for a while, when out there, enough to see how they are acting. Sometimes we can’t always catch the kidding. I have missed a few already on the ground, it went well thank goodness with most. Only had one get too cold and had to bring into the house to warm up. I did finally buy a webcam and it is so worth every penny. As it was so exhausting going out so often.
I've only been through 1 kidding season so far, but that's what I did. If I felt they were close to kidding, I would check multiple times a day, and get up a few times at night to go take a look.
I'm thinking about this year just trying it without a camera. I have my mom and older sister who could help check on them in rounds overnight. I think that I will probably not get a lot of sleep overnight anyway when I know they are close even if I have a camera. And I can always employ some of my family in the day time as watchers and take naps in the daytime.
I check their ligaments every morning and evening. When their ligaments get really loose, my little sister and I take turns checking them every 2 hours day and night. I have only missed 5 out of 34 kiddings.
My sister and I are planning on sleeping in the barn for a few nights in a hammock so we don’t miss a thing! We will take turns sleeping and watching our pregnant doe, Venus. During the day, we are just going to use baby monitors. (P.S. Our first time kidding)
That sounds fun. I do have a tent that we could maybe use, but I have never slept outside the comfort of a house so that might just be a recipe for poor sleep. How soon is your doe going to kid?
since I am a dog bredder and I had cameras all over my dog building, installing cameras in the goat pens was a normal thing..LOL and husband is an electrician so I also have electric outlets everywhere.. i got a baby monitor at a second hand store that works great,my goat areas are across the driveway so it works great..
Can anyone recommend a good baby monitor with camera that might work? We don’t have wifi out here and the barn is about 300 feet away or so. Is there a monitor that would reach that far?
I w I would recommend checking out Amazon.com, they usually have a big selection and reasonable prices.
I use the summer brand baby monitor, you can add up to 4 different cameras, i am not sure how far it goes my cameras are about 200 feet from my bedroom where the monitor is.. I got the monitor and 2 cameras at my local thrift store and then i went to ebay and got 2 more cameras for 15 dollars, it all cost me 30.00 and it works great..
I have a security camera set up that has its own WiFi built in and it easily covers 300 plus feet. It’s also closed so no one can look without a password I set. It works great. It’s a smonet brand. I got it on amazon. It’s plug and play, it took about 30 minutes to set up and get all four cameras positioned correctly. I’ve had it for two years and I’m adding four more cameras this week.
You have literally never slept outside of a house before? You must do it even if just for fun this summer. I am kinda wondering why your education was stunted. Learn to be just a bit primal. It will teach you a lot.