Farms can be difficult sites to secure. Valuable machinery, livestock, fuel and equipment are often spread across multiple buildings and large areas, with isolated entrances and activity taking place at all hours. West Country Tech designs and installs farm security systems across Devon and the wider South West, combining CCTV, intruder alarms, access control and connectivity to give you greater visibility and control across your farm. We’ll survey your site, understand where your biggest security concerns are and design a system around the way your farm actually operates.
Protect Your Farm, Equipment and Livestock
Farm security isn’t simply a case of putting a camera on the side of a building. Every farm is different. We’ll look at entrances, yards, workshops, machinery and equipment storage, livestock buildings and other vulnerable areas before recommending the right security measures for your site. Depending on your requirements, your farm security system can help you:
- Monitor entrances, yards and outbuildings
- Protect machinery, vehicles, tools and equipment
- Keep an eye on livestock and livestock buildings
- Receive alerts when people, vehicles or specific activity are detected
- View cameras remotely from your smartphone
- Monitor activity outside normal working hours
- Deter unwanted visitors with lights and audible warnings
- Control access to selected areas of the farm
- Find important events quickly without manually searching through hours of footage
Farm CCTV and Intelligent Security Cameras
Modern farm CCTV systems can do much more than simply record footage. Smart cameras can distinguish between people, vehicles and other movement, helping to reduce unnecessary alerts while notifying you when something important happens.
For farms that need more advanced monitoring, suitable systems can also use AI-assisted video analytics to search for specific objects, people, animals or events. In practical terms, that means you aren’t limited to scrolling backwards through hours of recordings trying to find what happened. The system can help you search footage for the activity you’re interested in.
It can also be configured around particular events that matter on a working farm. For example, intelligent detection could help identify and notify you when cattle have escaped from a yard or when a calf is being born, depending on the system, camera positioning and configuration.
The technology is there to make the cameras more useful – helping you find and respond to the things that actually need your attention. Depending on the area being protected, systems can also include night vision, active deterrence, number plate recognition and remote viewing.
We’ll recommend the right cameras, positioning and features based on what you need to see, monitor and protect.
Monitor Farm Entrances and Vehicles
Farm entrances can be some of the most important areas to monitor, particularly on sites where vehicles and people can enter without immediately passing a farmhouse or occupied building. CCTV and ANPR cameras can provide greater visibility of vehicles entering and leaving the farm, while intercoms, barriers and access control can be incorporated where greater control over site access is required. West Country Tech can design these elements as part of a wider farm security system rather than treating each piece of technology separately.
Protect Workshops, Machinery and Outbuildings
Workshops, machinery stores and outbuildings can contain some of the most valuable assets on a farm while also being located away from the main house or occupied areas. A combination of CCTV and smart intruder alarms can provide additional protection for these buildings. Alarm systems can include door contacts, motion detection and internal or external sirens, with smartphone notifications allowing you to know when an alarm has been triggered even when you are away from the farm.
Security Across Multiple Buildings
One of the challenges of farm security is simply the size of the site. Cameras, alarms and other security equipment may need to operate across barns, workshops, yards and outbuildings that are separated by considerable distances. West Country Tech’s networking expertise allows us to connect technology across larger and multi-building sites, using the appropriate network infrastructure and secure wireless links where required. This means we’re not limited to protecting whichever buildings happen to have an existing internet or Wi-Fi connection.
Farm Security From Your Smartphone
You can’t be everywhere on the farm at once. Our smart security systems can give you remote access to cameras and security information from your smartphone, helping you keep an eye on the farm when you’re elsewhere on the property or away from the site completely. Depending on the system installed, you can view live and recorded CCTV footage and receive notifications when specified activity is detected or an alarm is triggered. With more advanced intelligent video analytics, the system can also help you find particular events in recorded footage without having to know exactly when they happened.
Farm Security and Livestock Monitoring
Security cameras and livestock monitoring cameras perform different jobs, but increasingly they can form part of the same wider technology infrastructure. West Country Tech can install dedicated livestock cameras for calving, lambing, foaling and general livestock monitoring alongside CCTV designed to protect the wider farm. For more advanced requirements, intelligent video analytics can provide another level of monitoring. Rather than simply giving you a live camera to check, compatible systems can help search for specific activity and provide notifications around events that matter to you. That could include an animal leaving an area where it should be contained or identifying activity around calving. The exact capabilities will depend on the cameras, positioning and system configuration, so we’ll design the system around what you actually need to monitor rather than promising a long list of features you don’t need.
A Complete Farm Security System
Rather than expecting you to decide which cameras, alarms or other equipment you need, we’ll start by understanding the problems you want to solve.
Depending on your farm, your security system could combine:
CCTV
Monitor entrances, yards, buildings, machinery and other important areas, with intelligent detection and advanced video search available where required.
Smart Intruder Alarms
Protect workshops, stores and other buildings with motion detection, door contacts, sirens and smartphone alerts.
ANPR
Capture vehicle number plates at suitable entrances and access points.
Access Control, Barriers and Intercoms
Help manage access to selected buildings and areas of the farm.
Wi-Fi & Networking
Connect cameras, security equipment and other technology across larger sites and separate buildings.
Livestock Monitoring
Keep an eye on livestock remotely with dedicated calving, lambing and livestock cameras.
We’ll recommend the appropriate combination based on your site and requirements.
Wi-Fi, Networking & Connectivity Across Your Farm
Security and monitoring technology is only useful if it can stay reliably connected. Many farms need connectivity across buildings and areas that are a considerable distance from the main farmhouse or office. West Country Tech can design the network infrastructure needed to get internet and connected technology working across the wider farm. Depending on your site, this can include Starlink installation, managed Wi-Fi, secure long-range wireless links and sharing an existing internet connection between buildings. We can help provide connectivity to:
- Farm offices, workshops and outbuildings
- CCTV and security equipment
- Livestock and calving cameras
- Workers’ houses and accommodation
- Remote buildings and areas of the farm
- Heat detection systems
- Other remote monitoring and connected farm technology that requires internet access
If you already have a good internet connection in one part of the farm, that doesn’t necessarily mean you need another separate connection for every building. We can look at how that connection can be shared securely across the site, including buildings some distance from the original connection. Where conventional internet options are limited, Starlink can provide the incoming internet connection, and we can then design the Wi-Fi and network infrastructure needed to distribute it around the farm. It’s this combination of connectivity and security expertise that allows us to look at the farm as a complete site rather than treating every camera, building or connected system as a separate job.
Designed for Farms by a Team That Understands Them
West Country Tech has worked with farms and rural businesses since the company began. That experience matters when designing farm security. Agricultural sites don’t operate like conventional commercial premises: buildings can be spread over large distances, people and vehicles may legitimately come and go at unusual hours, livestock can trigger poorly configured cameras, and connectivity isn’t always straightforward. Technology also has to work around the realities of the farm. A camera alert isn’t much help if you’re constantly receiving notifications you don’t need, and a remote monitoring system isn’t much use if the building it’s installed in has unreliable connectivity. Our team understands these challenges and designs systems around the realities of a working farm.
Designed, Installed and Supported by West Country Tech
We’ll take care of the process from the initial survey and system design through to installation and setup. Once your system is installed, we’ll show you how to use it and provide ongoing technical support and servicing where required. If you already have farm CCTV, networking or security equipment that isn’t working as it should, we can also assess the existing installation and advise whether it can be improved or incorporated into a more reliable system.
Farm Security FAQs
What is the best security system for a farm?
There isn’t one security system that’s right for every farm. The appropriate combination will depend on the size and layout of the site, the areas and assets you need to protect and how the farm operates. West Country Tech will survey your farm and recommend a system based on your individual requirements.
Can farm CCTV send alerts to my phone?
Yes. Smart CCTV cameras can detect specified activity and send notifications to your smartphone. Systems can be configured around the areas, times and types of activity that are important to you.
Can CCTV tell me when livestock escape or a calf is being born?
Compatible systems with advanced intelligent video analytics can be configured to search for and provide notifications around specific events, including livestock activity. What can be reliably detected will depend on the system, camera positioning and configuration, so we’ll discuss what you want to monitor as part of designing the installation.
Can I search my CCTV for a particular event?
With compatible systems, intelligent video search can help find particular people, animals, objects or events in recorded footage, reducing the need to manually search through hours of recordings.
Can CCTV distinguish between people, vehicles and animals?
Suitable smart CCTV cameras can distinguish between different types of movement, including people and vehicles. More advanced analytics can provide additional search and detection capabilities. Correct camera selection, positioning and configuration are particularly important on farms, where livestock and wildlife could otherwise create unnecessary alerts.
Can you install CCTV across several farm buildings?
Yes. West Country Tech specialises in connecting technology across farms and larger sites. Where buildings are separated, we can design the networking and wireless links required to connect cameras and other equipment.
Can I monitor my farm CCTV when I’m away?
Yes. Our systems can provide secure remote access, allowing you to view live cameras and recorded footage from a compatible smartphone or connected device.
Can you provide internet to remote farm buildings and workers’ houses?
Yes. Depending on the site, West Country Tech can use managed Wi-Fi, networking and secure wireless links to share an internet connection with other buildings and areas around the farm, including workers’ accommodation.
Can the farm network support other monitoring systems?
Yes. The network infrastructure can also provide connectivity for equipment such as heat detection and other remote monitoring systems that require an internet connection. We’ll assess the connectivity requirements of the equipment as part of designing the network.
Do you install Starlink for farms?
Yes. Where Starlink is being used as the farm’s internet connection, West Country Tech can professionally install it and design the Wi-Fi and networking needed to distribute that connection around the wider site.
Can you secure farm workshops and machinery stores?
Yes. CCTV can be combined with smart intruder alarms to protect workshops, machinery stores and other outbuildings. Depending on your requirements, alarms can include motion detectors, door contacts, sirens and smartphone notifications.
Can farm CCTV be combined with livestock cameras?
Yes. Dedicated livestock monitoring cameras and security CCTV perform different functions, but both can form part of the wider technology infrastructure across a farm. West Country Tech can design and install both systems.
Can you improve an existing farm security system?
Yes. If you already have CCTV or other security equipment installed, we can assess the existing system and identify whether configuration, networking or other issues can be resolved before recommending unnecessary replacement.