Property News
September News - Rural security – Your chance to fight back
The UK market-leader in specialist agricultural and equestrian security solutions is Kelso-based Alarms for Farms. Here, company founder Damon Rodwell explains some of the ways in which farmers and horse-owners can protect their animals, equipment and buildings.
Technological advances over the last few years have dramatically increased the option for rural property owners and farmers worried about security. There are two main planks; perimeter protection and CCTV. We'll deal with them in order.
Protecting the perimeter of the property is typically done with infra-red beams. This used to be the preserve of airports, industrial premises and reclusive millionaires. As technology has moved on, prices have plummeted to the extent that it's now a very real option for anyone with a property that needs guarding. Depending on the area to be protected, you can either surround the entire boundary with an infra-red cordon, or concentrate on specific vulnerable areas like gated entrances, workshops, tack-rooms and machinery sheds. Having set up your infra-red cordon, you then need to decide how it is to be monitored. If the areas being protected are within a few hundred metres of your house, a direct radio-link back to the house is all that's required.
The sensors (see pictures) transmit a signal to a receiver in the house, which will sound a buzzer or a siren, activate security lighting or even call your mobile or your neighbours whenever the system is triggered. In its most basic form, the system is armed and disarmed simply by switching the receiver in the house on or off. In more complicated situations, such as DIY livery yards where a variety of people need access at unpredictable times of day, the system can be armed and disarmed by text message, using a password that can be altered as often as required as customers and staff change. Systems start at just a couple of hundred pounds.
Where the area being protected is a bit further from the house, and a direct radio link isn't feasible, the system is usually monitored using the mobile phone network. The sensors communicate with a control box in a dry and secure location (typically a barn or tackroom), which will automatically send text messages and voice calls to a selection of mobiles and landlines when an intrusion is detected. Again, the system is armed and disarmed by text message. Even yards with no mains power can be protected without difficulty, as the sensors are powered by a couple of AA batteries (no wires, making installation extremely simple) and the control equipment will run happily on a 12 volt battery.
CCTV is already widely used as a vital aid during calving and foaling, and is becoming increasingly popular as a weapon in the fight against the spiralling problem of rural crime. At Alarms for Farms we have systems designed to serve both purposes equally well.
Using high-resolution CCTV cameras with built-in infra-red lighting, you can display superb clear pictures from around the property day or night on your existing TV and record the footage on a hard disk. We have developed an impressive range of wireless CCTV equipment that eliminates the need for cabling between cameras and monitors (i.e. between the yard and the house) over distances of several hundred metres. An exciting new development is the ability to monitor the footage remotely over the internet – a facility that really comes into its own when you live some distance away from the cameras or when you have a stockman or stable-hand who has been roped in to share the work during calving or foaling.
The same equipment can be used both for foaling and security, meaning you can move it from the stables out into the yard when foaling is finished for the year. These systems are also suitable for use in the horsebox to monitor animals in transit.
Our high-resolution wireless CCTV systems start at well under £200.
All this equipment, and much more besides can be seen at www.alarmsforfarms.com
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