CCTV and security
CCTV and security for the yard
Rural crime costs farms tens of millions a year, and most of it happens after dark. Cameras that record properly, read number plates at the gate and send a clip to your phone are the difference between knowing and guessing.
Sound familiar?
What goes wrong
Somebody had the quad away.
Quads, GPS units, fuel, tools, trailers, sometimes livestock. Thieves know which yards have cameras and which don't. Yours should be the first kind.
The old system records a blur.
A ten-year-old recorder with a night picture like porridge. The police need a plate and a face, not a shape.
Alerts every time a fox walks past.
Motion alerts that fire all night get switched off within a week. Modern cameras tell a person, a vehicle and an animal apart, and only bother you for the first two.
The alarm dials out on the landline.
Which stops working in January 2027. Alarms, auto-diallers and gate intercoms on the old line need moving to broadband or 4G before then.
What Daniel does
What he does about it
Plans the cameras around how the yard is used.
Entrances first, then fuel and machinery, then the buildings. Mounting heights that catch a face, not the top of a cap. Lighting where the cameras need it.
Number-plate cameras on the gate.
A camera built to read plates, day and night, so you know who came in at 3am and the police have something to act on.
Recording that's safe from the thief.
The recorder locked away or in the cloud, so taking the camera doesn't take the evidence. Weeks of footage kept, and the important clips saved for good.
Alerts to your phone that you'll actually keep on.
A person at the gate: you get a clip. A vehicle at the fuel tank at night: you get a clip. A badger: nothing.
Alarms and alerts that survive the switch-off.
Existing alarms moved to 4G or broadband signalling, battery backup fitted, and the whole thing tested by setting it off on purpose.
The paperwork done for you.
A plain-English note on the law for cameras that see a public lane or a footpath, and the signs you need, so a camera never becomes a complaint.
Under the bonnetFor whoever in the family checks these things.
The kit
- Cameras with on-device person, vehicle and animal detection, from makers not on the UK government's list of devices to avoid in sensitive sites
- Dedicated ANPR cameras at entrances, matched to the gate's width and the approach speed
- Power over Ethernet to every camera, with outdoor-rated cable and surge protection on long runs
- Local recording with a mirrored copy of alert clips in the cloud; retention set to what the insurer and the police ask for
How it’s done
- The camera network sits on its own VLAN with no route to the office or the internet except through the recorder
- Default passwords changed, firmware kept current, remote viewing through the recorder's app over an encrypted connection, never a port forward
- A written data protection note for the farm's records, since a business recording people is a data controller
Said plainly
What he won't do
- Install monitored alarms that call out the police. Those need an NSI or SSAIB approved installer. Self-monitored alerts and CCTV, yes.
- Point a camera where it shouldn't point. Neighbours' gardens and the public road beyond your gate are off limits, and he'll say so.
- Fit cheap cameras that phone home somewhere you'd rather they didn't.
Questions people ask
Before you ring
How many cameras does a farm need?
Fewer than you think, in the right places. Four well-placed cameras beat twelve pointing at nothing. Daniel's guide to farm CCTV covers where they go.
Can I see the yard from my phone when I'm away?
Yes, live and recorded, through the recorder's own app. Your partner and the farm manager can have their own logins.
Is there a monthly fee?
Not for local recording. Cloud copies of alert clips cost a few pounds a month, and are worth it: they're the clips the thief can't take with him.
Will the police use the footage?
They will if it's clear. Number plates, faces and the time stamp are what they ask for, which is what the system is designed to give them.
Read first, if you like
Guides that go with this
- Farm CCTV: what you actually needHow many cameras, where to point them, number-plate cameras at the gate, recording and alerts, the law on cameras, and what thieves actually do at 3am.
- The landline switch-off on a farm: a guideWhat the 2027 landline switch-off means on a farm: phones, alarms, gate intercoms and card machines that may stop, power cuts, and what to do before January.
Also
Jobs that often go together
Landline switch-off
Every phone, alarm and card machine checked before 31 January 2027, with battery backup for power cuts.
Find out moreWi-Fi and networks
A signal in every room and every outbuilding: mesh Wi-Fi through stone walls, and beams across the yard to the barns.
Find out moreCyber security
Two-step logins, backups that restore, a proper firewall and help with scams. Hard to hack, easy to live with.
Find out more
Know who came in, even at 3am. Especially at 3am.