I keep missing births — lambing, kidding, calving
This is one of the clearest wins automation offers on a farm: it replaces a fortnight of two-hourly night walks with a camera and a notification, and the cost is trivial compared to one lost lamb.
What actually works
A $40–60 PoE camera into local recording. Check from the house in your dressing gown instead of walking out at 2 a.m. in February. This pays for itself the first season — but it only works if it keeps working when the internet doesn't, which means local recording, not a cloud subscription.
Infrared, and aimed so you can actually read what you're seeing. A camera you have to go out and interpret has saved you nothing.
Tail-mounted and intravaginal sensors exist and work reasonably in commercial herds. For a handful of animals the cost and faff rarely beat a camera plus knowing your animals.
The camera tells you she's down and pushing. It does not tell you the lamb is backwards. **Automation shortens the watching, not the knowing** — and a hard birth is still a call you have to make yourself.
Also searched as
lambing monitor · kidding camera · calving alarm · barn camera night · when will she give birth · night checks livestock · birth monitoring