It's important to have a livestock farm alarm to detect power outages and high temperatures on a poultry farm, because fried chicken is only good on the dinner table, and roast turkey is great, but only if it's roasting in your oven. Learn how your broilers can thrive, your layers max out their production, and your turkeys to make it to thanksgiving, with these key alarm system considerations.
What does 3G have to do with your livestock farm alarm?
Verizon announced last year that they would be sun setting their 3G service by the end of 2020. Matter of fact, all four of the major carriers (Verizon, AT&T, Sprint, and T-Mobile) will be abandoning 3G within the next year or two in favor of the faster, more streamlined 4G LTE.
Chances are you wouldn’t be reading this right now if you didn’t have a need for remote monitoring. But if you’ve got a barn full of hogs, turkeys, chickens, cows or any other livestock, you know how important it is to monitor your farm 24/7. Fresh air, sufficient feed and water, comfortable temperatures, and physical security all play crucial roles in the success of your farm. So smart farmers keep tabs on these factors at all times.
There are a number of ways you could monitor your farm from a distance…
An old fashioned telephone line with an alarm dialer (good luck trying to deal with all the wires if you even manage to gain access to a telephone line in this day and age.)
An Internet-based monitoring system that functions through Wi-Fi (if you’re somehow able to get reliably fast Internet in your area, chances are slim of getting Wi-Fi out in your barn)
A wireless system like Smart Barn that monitors, tracks and notifies in real-time with an always-on cellular connection. Since day one, we’ve been using Verizon’s 3G network. That’s why 3G matters for your farm.
In cellular network-ese, “G” stands for “generation”. Technology moves crazy fast - in the space of less than forty years, we’ve seen five generations of cellular service.
3G
Came about in the early 2000s. While 2G only let you call and text, with 3G you can also access the Internet from your mobile device. 3G allows for nearly as many capabilities on mobile devices as are available on a desktop computer. When 3G first became available, lots of companies like ours started using it to do things that weren’t possible before… Like monitoring your farm 24/7 no matter where you are.
4G LTE
Gained steam in the 2010s, and is what most if not all carriers support today. 4G is supposed to be 500 times faster than 3G, but in reality it depends on a number of factors. Hence the three little letters “LTE”, which stand for “Long Term Evolution”. This just means that 4G LTE has the capability to constantly evolve and be improved. 3G isn’t as “stretchy” as 4G LTE, which is why Verizon is shutting it down. The good news about 4G LTE is that it will be around for quite a while. Most providers (including our partner Verizon) anticipate using and improving 4G LTE for another ten years at least.
5G
By far the fastest and most powerful generation to date. But right now it’s still in its infancy. Even though a lot of wireless carriers do currently offer it, it isn’t as common and easily accessible as 4G LTE yet. The range of 5G is shorter and 5G towers are currently fewer and farther between than 4G LTE towers.
In our conversations with farmers, one of the biggest concerns is whether or not 5G will be replacing 4G anytime soon. After all, since the major wireless carriers are all dropping 3G now in favor of 4G LTE, won’t they just do the same thing with 4G in a couple of years?
The short answer is no. The slightly longer answer is that 5G is designed in such a way that it will only be effective in bigger cities for the foreseeable future. America isn’t likely to see 5G becoming the norm in this decade, so people using 4G LTE have nothing to worry about.
The 3G shutdown didn’t catch us by surprise here at Smart Barn. As soon as we saw the potential that 4G LTE had to improve the lives of farmers, we got to work on making a 4G gateway that will work significantly faster than our old 3G gateway.
Here’s what that means. Every one of the sensors you install (whether temperature, humidity, bin level, water pressure, door status, you name it) communicate directly to the gateway, which then stores that information in the cloud, where you can access it from your device any time from anywhere.
If you’re already a Smart Barn user: all you need to do is purchase our 4G gateway, unplug your 3G gateway, plug in your new one, and your sensors will all automatically make the transition.
If you’re not experiencing peace of mind with Smart Barn yet, now is your chance to take advantage of 24/7 monitoring of your farm! You don’t have to keep worrying, guessing, or wasting time and money from lack of awareness about your livestock’s wellbeing. Smart Barn gives you peace of mind around the clock.
Contact us today to get set up!
It's important to have a livestock farm alarm to detect power outages and high temperatures on a poultry farm, because fried chicken is only good on the dinner table, and roast turkey is great, but only if it's roasting in your oven. Learn how your broilers can thrive, your layers max out their production, and your turkeys to make it to thanksgiving, with these key alarm system considerations.
There are lots of options out there, and obviously I’m partial to Smart Barn, but we want you to be educated about your choices. Here’s, a quick review of the basic kinds of systems available to you.
The old standby is the alarm phone dialer, the Sensaphone 400 is a very common type that a lot of folks use in farming. There’s also the AgriAlert 800ez which is also pretty basic, you set them up using a keypad to program in the phone numbers it will dial. Both are reasonably reliable and cheap as far as farm alarm systems go. The Sensaphone is not completely sealed up in an enclosure, so they can be susceptible to moisture damage or corrosion. The FreezeAlarm FA700E dialer is another option, as well as the Farm Alarm, though I haven’t used those like I’ve used the Sensaphone and AgriAlert.
There are quite a few more options for you on the web connected side, though your mileage may vary. Sensaphone also has options in this space, with the Web 600. There are also numerous systems from SimpliSafe, Iris, and SmartThings, and Google Nest. Here’s where Smart Barn really shines, if you’re planning on a web-connected system Smart Barn gives you the most bang for your buck by a long shot.
Smart Barn is definitely the best option here too, but I’ll admit there are also alternatives. Sensaphone has the Cell 1400 which is a cell connected dialer. You’ve also got the Digi SmartSense, which used to be several brands like Temp@lert, but is now consolidated into one brand now.
Many of the farm alarm systems are still hard-wired to their sensors. This means you have to run wires to every point you want to monitor, and usually introduces a lot of maintenance and cost. If you've got more than one building to monitor, then the amount of cable and conduit you'll have to run becomes pricey very quickly. Smart Barn eliminates the wires and is much easier to setup because we use long-range wireless sensors powered by AA batteries that last for years without replacement.
Those are just a few of your options for a farm alarm system, we’ll add more to this list so you’ve got a nice resource and comparison point. And of course, if you want to talk to a friendly person who can help you navigate your technology options, please, give us a call and we’ll help you sort through the options. You can call or text us at 937-697-1890, or email us at contact@smartbarn.io
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