Dairy cow 200 lux lighting

[funny farm]

We want to put decent lighting for cows in an old building can it be done with sensibly priced lights or does it have to be all singing agrilight type fittings

 

[Beef farmer]

We want to put decent lighting for cows in an old building can it be done with sensibly priced lights or does it have to be all singing agrilight type fittings

We have just done all this lighting job, in timers and I don't think it will make any difference to cow production one bit. Think there very marginal litres and a waste of time.
Only my take mind, someone will be along shortly to tell you how brilliant lights are.

 

[Ballygreenan]

We have just done all this lighting job, in timers and I don't think it will make any difference to cow production one bit. Think there very marginal litres and a waste of time.
Only my take mind, someone will be along shortly to tell you how brilliant lights are.

While you may not see a big impact on yields you should see a difference in fertility/bulling activity.

 

[buffalo_soldier]

I did it a few years ago. Just used low energy tubes on a timer with bulkhead lights for the dark phase.
Still isn't cheap.
Also I wouldn't claim any improvement in yields/fertility with any confidence as there are too many other things going on to be able to look at it in isolation.

It did make sense to me to standardise the lighting which is why I did it.

 

[farmerste]

did my shed in summer, used sealed low bay units(so flies cant get in!!) with 250w sodium lamps, cost me £150 a unit plus a couple of timers and my sparkys time. A lot less than the £7500 i was quoted for complete led system. Cant say i've noticed any affect on milk yield but it makes my life a lot easier in a morning and evening!!

 

[Shep]

We have just done all this lighting job, in timers and I don't think it will make any difference to cow production one bit. Think there very marginal litres and a waste of time.
Only my take mind, someone will be along shortly to tell you how brilliant lights are.

There's a lot of things sold to us that make bugger all difference, not just lights.

 

[Irish NZ]

We have just done all this lighting job, in timers and I don't think it will make any difference to cow production one bit. Think there very marginal litres and a waste of time.
Only my take mind, someone will be along shortly to tell you how brilliant lights are.

Someone post a study from dairy co on here recently saying that cows will give an extra 2 l of milk.........

That's it 2 l didn't mention type of cow, stage of lactation, what they were comparing against, nothing just said an extra 2l.

Sounds like a winner... must get some flood lighting onto my paddocks now.

 

[FonterraFarmer]

Someone post a study from dairy co on here recently saying that cows will give an extra 2 l of milk.........

That's it 2 l didn't mention type of cow, stage of lactation, what they were comparing against, nothing just said an extra 2l.

Sounds like a winner... must get some flood lighting onto my paddocks now.

Nah mate, just wait till the end of daylight saving, then production will go up because of the extra hour of daylight in the morning!!!

 

[Turboman]

For those of you that upgraded your cow lighting did anyone actually test the system with a lux meter to see if output was adequate? Things might be a stepup from old system but if not hitting the 200lux at cow level then you won't find a yield increase.

 

[buffalo_soldier]

For those of you that upgraded your cow lighting did anyone actually test the system with a lux meter to see if output was adequate? Things might be a stepup from old system but if not hitting the 200lux at cow level then you won't find a yield increase.

For me yes, electrician tested both the light phase and the dark one which I think is 50lux.
Vet even confirmed it, that may have been more out of curiosity though.
You can get your own light meter if needed, ebay possibly?

 

[Fergieman]

For those of you that upgraded your cow lighting did anyone actually test the system with a lux meter to see if output was adequate? Things might be a stepup from old system but if not hitting the 200lux at cow level then you won't find a yield increase.

Yes, bought a lux meter off ebay and tested the shed. Its not under the light units its in the far corner and between the light fittings you need to test. But all was good. Its not easy to quantify any increase in yield or standing heats as when lights are done it is usually done along with other fixtures and fittings, in our case it was a new shed.

 

[rusty]

I did our 250 cow shed last autumn with 12 400w agri light high pressure sodium units. Cost about £4500 from memory, fitted them myself in place of the useless strip lights we had originally. The quotes I had for LED lighting were much more. Not noticed any improvement in yield although they are bulling quite well. Deboer worked out a lighting plan to give 200 lux but when Santa brought me a lux metre last Christmas it turned out that a lot of areas were not getting to 200 lux so don't believe suppliers lighting plans!

 

[Irish NZ]

Yes, bought a lux meter off ebay and tested the shed. Its not under the light units its in the far corner and between the light fittings you need to test. But all was good. Its not easy to quantify any increase in yield or standing heats as when lights are done it is usually done along with other fixtures and fittings, in our case it was a new shed.

Did you notice a change overall with the new well lit shed?

 

[lojerledlighting]

We have just done all this lighting job, in timers and I don't think it will make any difference to cow production one bit. Think there very marginal litres and a waste of time.
Only my take mind, someone will be along shortly to tell you how brilliant lights are.

Just to oblige

There are a lot of low quality replacement led TUBE types,which because they do not have heat sinks for their led chips perform very poorly and only last half as long as our professional grade IP66 battens,which are impact and flame resistant and designed to British Standards.Please got to our web site lojerledlighting.co..uk of call us on 01635865882
N.B. these project a more natural daylight unidirectionally where you need the light,not up or side ways

 

[lojerledlighting]

For me yes, electrician tested both the light phase and the dark one which I think is 50lux.
Vet even confirmed it, that may have been more out of curiosity though.
You can get your own light meter if needed, ebay possibly?

We actually generate a computer simulation of exactly how much light we will give you with the relevant model,in this case you would need a 6 foot high intensity led batten.These generate nearly 10.000 lumens!So you do not need many...

our professional grade IP66 battens,which are impact and flame resistant and designed to British Standards.Please got to our web site lojerledlighting.co..uk of call us on 01635865882
N.B. these project a more natural daylight unidirectionally where you need the light,not up or side ways

 

[Enry]

Speak to Wynnstay VES

 

[Multi14]

Give me a ring in the morning if you want Gareth Mitchell - 07810444946 or email - [email protected] . I work for Wynnstay covering North Wales and can pass you on to the right person in the south or I will come down and have a talk. We will draw you a plan and give you a quote if you were interested.