Celina Industries sells various types of vinyl Agri-Barrier curtains for use on livestock barns. Many of our materials, including translucent polyethylene and PVC, allow some portion of natural light to penetrate the curtains and brighten the interior of your barns. And this is a good thing.

Benefits of Light

Natural light is the best way to make sure your animals are naturally healthy. All mammals use sunlight to create vitamin D, though animals with fur and feather tend to gather less from ambient light. This makes the availability of light at all times very important, because every little bit helps.

Lighting (especially duration) greatly affects different livestock at different times.

Cows that get more light during milking create more milk during the entire time they can be milked. When studied while dry, it’s been found that cow receiving fewer total light hours when dry have overall higher rates of milk production later on. Findings were compared to cows getting a standard amount of light or daylight all the time.
Chickens have extra photoreceptors on their brains, meaning they sense light through their eyes and also light that penetrates their heads. They generally need around 16 hours of light a day, with detrimental effects setting in if under 12 hours daily. Warm light (which has a larger amount of red in it) helps them to produce eggs.
Pigs produce much of their needed vitamin D through absorbing sunlight, with the best health being the result of 14-18 hours of light to 8-10 hours of darkness per day. These amounts allow them to create the healthiest, largest litters.

Curtain Aspects

Curtains can be lowered in most instances to expose natural light to livestock, the easiest and most cost effective way of ensuring animal health. When used in tandem with lighting systems, this can save money at the same time keeping your livestock healthy. All well and good for the summer months, but what happens when you need the curtains closed for bad or winter weather?

While the amount of light coming through the majority of our curtains when raised is noticeable, its main benefit comes from how our curtains work with different lighting systems. Mounted lamps are often used to create the most control over light within barns, especially for use in the winter season when natural light is less abundant. The reflectivity of Agri-Barrier curtains means that you won’t lose any light, as it will simply reflect back out from the fabric.

Far-Reach Effects

Who knew that something as simple as a few extra hours of light could have such an effect? We didn’t even cover any of the studies detailing the differences between colors of light used! In order to keep your natural light levels high and minimize light lost through curtains, be sure to check out our Agri-Barrier curtains over at GetTent.com. Call us today (419-326-2082) to find out more!