How LED lighting makes happy cowsAnd even happier dairy farmers
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This is the Donker dairy farm in the Netherlands – a state-of-the-art family owned business.
It's home to 170 cows producing over 1.3 million litres of milk annually.
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Have you spotted the bovine waterbeds? That’s not the only innovation.
The Donkers had a good reason for looking at a new lighting solution to replace their high pressure sodium lights.
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In 2003 a report found that cows produce more milk if the barn lighting is improved to a certain level …
16 hours daily at 150-200 lux followed by 8 hours darkness.
But adding more light could be expensive with electricity costs rising.
And high pressure sodium fittings need frequent maintenance.
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The solution
Instead of high pressure sodium high bays drawing 480W, the Donkers installed Dialight's 150W LED high bays.
Each carries a 5-year continuous performance warranty, so there’s no more maintenance expense and hassle.
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The result
No more yellowish glow. Instead the light is more like daylight (217 lux shown here)
And there's no light spill to the surrounding neighbourhood (a sensitive issue in Holland).
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Even betterUnlike high pressure sodium lights which take several minutes to come on, LEDs have instant-on ability. That means you can turn them off and on as needed.
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Even betterUnlike high pressure sodium lights which take several minutes to come on, LEDs have instant-on ability. That means you can turn them off and on as needed.
And more … they can be dimmed from 150W to just 30W to supplement natural light.
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• Visibility is now better• Energy costs and CO2
emissions are down by as much as 90% when using dimming, 70% at other times
• Barn workers can now see colours properly to identify animals by their ear tags and spot injuries or other animal welfare issues
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• Smaller and cooler running than HPS fittings, the LEDs collect less dust and dirt
• They emit no UV, so attract fewer insects
• Milk production went up almost immediately by 5%
• With the combination of the waterbeds and the lighting, it's anticipated to go up by as much as 15%
• The farm has drastically cut operational expenses, improved production and created happy, healthy, productive dairy cows.
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Installation snapshot• 1,900 sqm facility• 24 x 400W HPS replaced by 24 x 150W LED high bays• 70% energy saved on full power• 90% energy saved by dimming• No light spill• Reduced CO2 emissions• 5-year warranty = no maintenance• Improved light quality• Increased productivity
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DialightFor more information about LED lighting
• www.dialight.com
• TCO calculator – try our calculator to find out what you could save by installing LED lighting.