I have barn lights!!!!

Growing up on the farm as a kid I used to hate it when we were out all night.  The main reason for that was because there was never enough light to see what you were doing.  Because of this I decided if I ever had to be at night for my own stuff I would not be out in the dark!

I added lights to my tractor and still want a couple more.  Now I finally had a chance to do the same with the new barn.  Due to the rain I got home from work early on Tuesday, that gave me just the break I needed to get the new lights installed in the new cow shed.  

Pig shed with Fluorescent lights installed.  

I am currently limited on power supply in the barn.  I have two power supplies.  One 12 gauge wire with 15 amps that I installed years ago from the garage, and one 10 gauge wire coming from the house with 30 amps.   

Originally I had just the pig waterer on the house circuit and had all the conduit installed to later tie it into the barn system because it has a better load supply.  Last winter we found the waterer frozen on day during the -20 degree weather last winter.   Unbeknownst to me, the GFI on the waterer circuit tripped and there was no power to keep the waterer thawed out.  After this happened I decided I needed a way to be sure the power was always on.  The only way to do this was to finish the connection to the barn.  I did this as soon as the weather permitted.  Now, as long as the lights turn on in the pig shed and the cow shed I am certain the power is on to the waterer!  The circuit from the garage feeds only the original barn and feed bin.  That keeps me from overloading the garage supply and the one line feeding the barn.  

Now, I explained the power situation for a reason.  Due to the limited amount of power available I am forced to be conservative with what I use.  When I started remodeling everything the only affordable options were regular incandescent bulbs and Fluorescent bulbs.  The fluorescent  bulbs use a lot less energy but take forever to get bright when it is cold out.  So, I was excited to see that there are affordable LED options now and decided to spend the money and try some.  

LED lights installed in the new cow shed.  

I got two different kinds to try first.  The above picture shows the one style.  They are more of a blue/white light and do not flood as much as the second option shown below.  They are still very bright and come on immediately, but do not flood the area with light and are not as warm of a color as the one pictured below.  

LED lights installed in the new cow shed.  

I decided to also change how I was going to light the new pad where the feeder is located.  I had one 500 watt Halogen light on the end of the pig shed.  It is the largest power consumer in the barn other than the fans I use in the summer.  But, it was free and I needed a big light so I decided to use it for now till I find an acceptable LED replacement.  Plus, this allowed me to see if it would do what I wanted as well before I spend money on LED lights.  

I extended a 2 x 4  five feet above the roof of the cow shed to get the light up higher in the air so it would light more from above rather than the across.  It works great.  It not only lights up the entire new pad but also lights up a large portion of the bottom enough to see if there are cows down there.  

Since I was already on the roof installing the light I thought it would be a great opportunity to get a couple of cool pictures of everything from above.  

From where the light is mounted, if want to and can find the right lights, I could light the entire bottom.  If I do this I would re-route the wiring so I could install another switch just for the big lights.  

If you look closely at the picture below you can see the posts for the fence to keep the cattle off the creek and right in the center.  From this side of the creek up to the barn is where they have access from late autumn till I let them out to the pasture in the spring.  This limits damage to the pastures and allows me to keep a closer eye on them during the rough winter.  That is why I am considering some big LED lights for the roof to light up the bottom.  In the winter with snow on the ground I could easily turn on the lights and see if everyone is OK even after dark.  

On some other topics I am currently reassessing my options for hay and hay sales.  Due to the very wet year I was unable to get the dry hay I needed to fill any of my hay orders.  This is probably going to turn out to be a good thing.  Since I had to take the cows off the pasture I needed to start feeding hay.  They are eating 1.5 bales per day already and it isn't even cold out.  This winter when the temps plummet they will most likely eat at least two possibly three bales per day.  At that consumption rate I will barely have enough hay to get me through the winter to next hay season.  

Another thing is after tracking my hay production over the last several years I am noticing that the bales per acre I am getting here on the farm have dropped off sharply due to the age of the fields.  So, I have decided it is time to replant with a new and more balanced crop.  I will be seeding the fields down with a Clover, Alfalfa, Orchard grass mix in the spring with a cover crop of Oats to make as silage feed early so I don't miss any production. 

I was also fortunate enough this year to pick up a couple of customers for Custom Hay work.  After making their hay and seeing how well their fields produced compared to mine I had to do some serious number crunching.  It quickly became evident that I am spending way to much time and money making hay on fields that are not producing near enough per acre to justify the cost.  So this coming year I will either need to reduce the number of cuttings to reduce the costs, replant to a new crop, or lose those fields and put the money I am spending their into new fields that I can get the production I need off of them.  I am most likely going to do a mix of all three by letting one or two go, reducing cuttings down to two on the rest, and reseeding and pushing the others.

Lots of decisions to make this winter!!!

Have a great day everyone and GO BUCKEYES!!!!!!!!!!

Kenny