A quiet humble notice...

I don't like to make a big deal about this as it isn't really in the spirit of LambWatch but I'd just like to make a quick reminder about our support page. Not wanting to sound like an airline company, but the costs of running the LW webcam are going up, and increasingly so as we go into winter, where the infra-red LEDs on the webcam will be on for a much greater proportion of the day and therefore our electricity bill is going to go up. This has come to our attention as we have just received our summer electricity bill which is considerably higher than normal, which could well be down to the PC, webcam and microphone being switched on around the clock. Our internet bandwidth usage has also gone through the roof since setting up LambWatch as we have to send all the webcam stream to camstreams, which is resulting in excess bandwidth charges on my Internet - I have not mentioned it before but I have had to pay over Ã.£50 for a month's internet usage due to exceeded bandwidth limits and I have just received another email today regarding the limit for this month: "Dear Mr Daniel Procter, Your usage for this billing month will soon exceed the included allowance of your broadband account. Additional usage above this allowance will be charged at £2 per GB (or part thereof). Any additional usage during this month will be added to your next invoice. " I'll be honest and say that LambWatch is costing us as a family and we absolutely loath the thought that we may have to reduce the time we broadcast due to rising electrictiy costs. We don't consume that much electricity as a family anyway but have already started leaving lights off unless absolutely necessary, turning TV sets off standby for the night and getting rid of clock radios that are on all the time. I really don't want to take the webcam down at all but we have been considering the fact that there are times of day when there really is nothing to see and it just seems to be a waste of electrictiy. I have also been considering the idea of turning the webcam off when I receive my first notification of bandwidth limit from madasafish (our internet provider) in order to reduce my excess charges for that month and then turning the cam back on again at the start of the next month. One solution which could result in no broadband excess charges and no loss of webcam would be if i turned the quality of the webcam down. This would mean picture quality would be reduced but at least it's on. I dont really want to (and probably will not) do any of these things despite all this as I love broadcasting it and even if prices and costs to continue to rise I will probably not let it affect LambWatch but I just wanted you all to be aware of the fact that it is costing and that you can help support us at no extra cost to yourself, by using our affiliate links on the support page whenever you shop online. Also, any donations made through that same page are sooo greatly appreciated and go to LambWatch and help us keep the cam going and support the sheep. Here is a link to the support page: Help Support LambWatch Please, if you have any questions or comments or if you have any cost-cutting ideas please post them here as would love to hear them.

Hi Dan, I will gladly help support your website as it gives a lot of pleasure and is a great place to learn about sheep rearing and farming in general. It's also a good place for making new friends online and also in person (at your Opendays). You could turn the webcam off during the early hours of the morning say between midnight and dawn and turn down the quality of the web cam during the morning when the sheep tend not to be around the webcam. Not everyone would be happy with that I'm sure but it's just ideas to be thrown around.

An other idea would be if Lambwatchers could request their friends and family to use the support page if they buy goods online. We could send an e-mail to them with the support page link.

That's a great idea Margaret - spreading the word is by far the best way to help support us as then your friends and family get to see the lambwatch webcam as a bonus and a thank you for their support too! :D

Hi Dan So sorry you are feeling the pinch. Lamwatch is a great site an should be supported at all cost! One suggestion I have, is that maybe to reduce your bandwidth you could reduce what is on the lambwatch site, you could take my film off for a start, so it doesnt take so much room. All the highlights, you could update weekly, keep just that weeks highlights and all the other highlights you could leave for the DVDs? All ideas Dan. Id like to help in whatever way I can Christine xx

Hiya Christine - thank you for your kind words and suggestions. The actual content of this site doesnt actually come from us so downloading or watching any of the clips on this site including yours doesnt actually contribute to the bandwidth of my Internet. it is just the live stream itself that comes from the farm and it is that that is increasing our bandwidth. I do have limits on the server too (where the videos and site content is located) but they aren't been exceeded. What i will do is turn the quality of the cam down and see if anyone notices any difference. Its surprising how much bandwidth can be saved by just a slight decrease in the quality of the webcam.

Hi Dan. Just some more ideas. 1)I dont know how you could do it, but you could try and possibly get sponsorship? 2) Maybe we could all adopt one of the female sheep, I did suggest the lambs in the spring but as most go to market that wasnt viable. But paying a nominal sum for the year or half a year to adopt the sleep, possibly Patch or Lottie. You could send a newsletter on then four times a year, possibly pictures a membership card? All ideas to help Dan. I'll donate when I get paid :) xxx

Hi Dan, Here is an idea to help cut costs. I have been online all afternoon (it is a Saturday) and at 16.08 I can say that apart from a brief visit by one other member to chat there does not appear to be anyone else around. The sheep have not been in view so maybe an afternoon or two would be a good time to close the cam, then back on for the evening. Just wanted to let you know. Fi

Actually how about setting up a survey to get people to tell you when they are most likely to view the cam, then this will show you the quiet times. For those not in UK you would obviously need to know what their time difference is. Fi

I personally would hate to see the camera off all night, because being 6 hours behind UK time, I seem to be here mostly at night. Maybe a couple of hours off at night, then again during the afternoon?? And, is there any way to better emphasize the support page? maybe if more people shopped through it, it would help. I've posted a link to Lambwatch on a busy forum that I help run, and a link to the support page. Hopefully you will get some more traffic!

I'm hoping that turning off the webcam at any time of the day is a last resort for Dan. I think the best thing all round would be as norafitz is doing and pass on the support page link to as many people as possible and request that they go through that page to do their online shopping. Plus, visit the shop on Lambwatch (go to features and you will find the Shop and Support page there). I make no apologies for repeating the idea if some people are like me and tend to need a reminder).

hi dan,turning the webcam off would be a disaster in my opinion.

i'm new to the forum but would be willing to help out financially.let us know how much is needed to keep things going.peter

Hi Peter welcome to the forum - glad you found it :)

Thank you for your kind offer of financial support. Since I posted this notice, I have taken steps to reduce the amount I have to pay so I don't see any need to switch it off now :)

dan,

anytime financial support is needed,i'm here to help.

im an ex shepherd myself flock of 5000 breeding ewes (blackies and mules).had a bad accident at work and had to retire.so the webcam and this site means a lot to me,peter.

hi Dan its weird that you posted this today as I was thinking last night as I was listening to the wind in the middle of the night how last year you had such a high cost,and how I want to help as soon as im able I plan on gettin my dvd diray for myself for xmas,its not much but maybe it will help a little,here in Detroit everyone is losing their jobs and being laid off,its a bit depressing,its the worse here than anywhere in the States! Anyway I was thinking with all that wind you guys get on the farm it would be so cool to get the wind genarators for the electric,Ive been watching documentaries about more and more people going solar and wind power and getting off the grid! On youtube theres one you could watch for ideas called "off the grid" with Les Stroud.It's an Idea and maybe we can put something together to raise the money for the windmill to harness the electric,its a very small windmill and doesnt cost that much,I mean all that wind you guys get there in the winter,if you could use that to make your own electric how awesome would that be??? It's just an Idea anyway,hope Mum Lynda is feeling better with the Flu! You all take care talk to you soon...Liz

I hope you dont mind Dan here is the link to the Off the Grid video that you can watch to get Ideas about the Windmill for Electric I have watched this documentary a million times and enjoy it everytime,Its something I'd love to do when I buy my own home one day and it would be so awesome for your Farm with all the wind you guys get there, and I like the Idea of sending the Lambwatch link to all my friends and family Idea,that will be something i'm going to do now,at least watch the video link I sent ya,you will enoy it and maybe get some Ideas,and besides its not only good for everyones wallet but for the Earth as well......http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wg7EaLIJrBw