Incandescent. Compact fluorescent. Light emitting diode. Metal halide. From antiquated to efficient, on-farm lighting options span the energy-use gamut. Lighting is often one of the easiest and most cost-effective ways to reduce energy use on a dairy.
As with anything in life, though, there are numerous ways to botch a lighting upgrade. In the Penn State Dairy Digest, Agricultural Engineer John Tyson and Research Associate Daniel Ciolkosz illuminated four common pitfalls to watch for when taking your lighting to the next level.
1. Investing in lights that are used infrequently: If a light is only used for an hour or two per day, chances are that it won't pay to replace it with a high-efficiency lamp. For example, if a closet's 60-watt incandescent lamp, which is turned on for 10 minutes each day, is replaced with a 13-watt compact fluorescent, the same light output will be generated with less energy use. Under typical conditions, however, almost nine years are needed to recoup the upgrade cost.
Concentrate your efforts toward lights that experience more frequent use.
2. Buying cut-rate lamps or fixtures that don't perform or last: Some newer high-efficiency lamps don't hold up well in farm conditions or fail long before their rated lifespan. Poorly designed fixtures can rust, fade or accumulate heat that contribute to premature failure.
Watch out for off brands, and make sure that lighting systems are suitable for the farm environment. If you plan to clean your lights with water, make sure fixtures are properly lensed, gasketed and rated for "wet" service.
3. Letting maintenance slide: Sometimes, a rag and a little elbow grease is the best tool to improve your lighting system. Dirt accumulation on lamps, reflectors and lenses can wreak havoc on lights. To maintain good performance, clean your lighting system at least twice per year.
4. Using too little lighting: Too often initial lighting outputs are based on brand new, clean fixtures in a new facility. But dirt, dust and debris quickly accumulate on-farm, reducing light source output and creating substandard lighting conditions.
Therefore, a lighting system should be designed to initially produce more than the recommended illuminance level, so that, when it's dusty, it still performs up to standard. If you are concerned about overlighting during the initial weeks of operation, dimmers or selective switching can be used to reduce illuminance to recommended values.
The author is an associate editor and an animal science graduate of Cornell University. Smith covers feeding, milk quality and heads up the World Dairy Expo Supplement. She grew up on a Medina, N.Y., dairy, and interned at a 1,700-cow western New York dairy, a large New York calf and heifer farm, and studied in New Zealand for one semester.
