Modern Alarm Farm Systems: Practical Questions

A lot of things have changed on the farm since the days when all your facilities were located near the farm house where you lived and you did all the chores morning and night. Today, you likely have multiple roles and responsibilities, and live miles from the buildings you manage. Many producers are looking for new solutions to help them more effectively monitor their barns and animals remotely, a solution that utilizes today’s digital technology.

Questions for Today’s Livestock Producers

Whether you’re an independent producer or a contract grower, you have no doubt spent a small fortune putting up buildings to raise the best meat you know how. The investment is important, but as farmers we also care about the animals we raise. We care about their well-being. We also care because they are our livelihood. Our primary concerns for animals boils down to three practical questions:

• Are they safe?
• Are they healthy?
• Are they growing?

To get answers to those questions today, we typically check on the animals everyday. But is that enough? What if something happens between checks? What if there is a storm or a power outage? What if the water pipes freeze? What if there is a problem with the ventilation and temperatures sky-rocket?

There are ways to get answers to these questions without driving to the site or sending someone else. For instance, some of you may have or had some sort of alarm system at your facility(s). It should notify you if there is a problem, but what do you do with that alarm? Can you determine the issue that caused the alarm without a trip to the site? What if you are at another job or barn when the alarm goes off or you’re out of town? Do you call a neighbor and ask him/her to investigate? Do you turn the alarm off because it's the 4th “false” alarm this week?

A Better Way - Smart Barn Monitoring and Alarm System

At BarnTools, we’ve asked ourselves a different set of questions, believing that new solutions should be available utilizing modern technology. Questions like: Why can’t I monitor all my buildings from my smartphone at any time, from anywhere? How can I get more information related to these alarms? Shouldn’t I be able to share real-time data with my hired-hand? Can I “upgrade” my alarm system without needing to hire an electrician or spending another fortune?

The answers to all these questions is “Yes, you can.” Using the latest technology, our new BarnTalk system gives you information in the palm of your hands by pairing wireless sensors, a gateway to the internet and a user friendly mobile app. You can see real-time data for internal and external temperature, humidity, etc. from the app on your smartphone. You can set and manage alarms and send them to the hired-hand. And the system can be self-installed in any building in under two hours.

BarnTalk – A Better Way Is Here

The pursuit of a better way drives all farmers and, likewise, it drove us to develop BarnTalk, a smart barn monitoring and alarm system. It’s designed to be practical, affordable, and overcome rural connectivity issues, so it’s reliable. We will be sharing more about BarnTalk in the coming weeks. For now ask yourself, “What problems do I face that could be addressed with a smarter way to monitor my animals?"