Barn lighting — seven common myths: Science sheds light on myths
Bright, brighter, brightest! With the advent of LEDs and their greater range of colour, it has become too easy to add extra lights, to the point we have overshot the mark, something that Dr Daniel Werner is certain of. Following his doctorate, he has been working on the topic of lighting in livestock buildings and its effect on the stock housed inside.
Dr Werner has completed a wide range of research including the ‘I_LED Dairy Cattle project’, in which ethologists (the study of animal behaviour) Prof Dr Klaus Reiter and Prof Eberhard von Borell have also been involved. The results of this research are not only interesting but make you sit up and take notice.
COMPARING THE HUMAN EYE TO THAT OF CATTLE
Technically speaking, light is electromagnetic radiation that is visible to the human eye in the range of 380nm to 780nm (nanometres). The more intense the radiation, the brighter the light appears to us — and the better we can see.
But light is not only needed for seeing; it also has an effect on the light-sensitive ganglion cells in our retina that influence and control our biorhythm, i.e. the rhythm of our days, nights and years, the metabolism and the regulation of hormones,
