Animal husbandry – Confining or housing – Pen or rack
Reexamination Certificate
2001-08-30
2003-04-01
Jordan, Charles T. (Department: 3644)
Animal husbandry
Confining or housing
Pen or rack
C119S051010
Reexamination Certificate
active
06539896
ABSTRACT:
The present invention relates to an arrangement for feeding of animals, in particular pigs, kept in a free-range herd. The arrangement comprises a carrousel divided into a number of feeding enclosures so that a large number of animals may be individually fed automatically within a small area. The invention may in particular be applied to feeding animals that are being bred for meat production, i.e. for slaughtering, but it may advantageously be applied to feeding of sows, cows, etc.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
It is known to feed sows on an individual basis, wherein the amount and composition of feed depends on a number of circumstances, mainly regarding whether the sow is pregnant, is nursing piglets, etc. The sows may be equipped with a transponder, often placed in an earmark, for individual automatic identification of the sow. The identification may be used for automatic individual feeding of sows, for separation of the sow for insemination or for farrowing, etc.
Porkers, herein meaning pigs that are bred for meat production, i.e. for slaughtering, are today in modern meat production fed as a bulk and individual feeding of the animals may only be provided manually. The animals are typically kept in groups of 15-20 animals. However, if the animals are kept in larger herds, more that 50 animals but often even much more, stronger or more aggressive animals will tend to keep other animals away from the common feeding bowls, resulting in a large deviation in size and weight of pigs of similar ages. This has the effect that a herd of porkers of similar age may reach the desired final weight over a period of several week, thus letting the production means for raising the porkers be more or less idle over most of the period. Furthermore, the feed is utilised less effectively by the porkers that are not fed properly, resulting in higher consumption of feed per kilogram meat produced. Also, the use of arrangements for automating the slaughtering process partly or completely is tremendously simplified if animals of a highly uniform weight can be produced. Finally, the health of the badly fed porkers may suffer from the conditions.
Known arrangements for individual feeding of animals are expensive to purchase for a larger herd of animals, in particular arrangements wherein each animal is identified, since each unit may only feed one animal at a time. Such arrangements take up plenty of square-metres of area relatively to the number of animals in the herd because each arrangement has a separate inlet and outlet for the animals.
The above-mentioned problems are of special importance for out-door breeding of porkers, which presents the added problem of the exposure of the animals to the temperature and wind speed variations of the open air environment, calling for adjustment of the amount of feed. However, the invention is applicable to free-range breeding of porkers and other animal indoor as well as outdoor, and the problem of variations in environmental temperature for the animals may also occur with indoor breeding, but usually to a less extent than with outdoor breeding.
A feeding apparatus for individual feeding of animals is disclosed in GB 2 220 834 in which the animals are simultaneous weighted and fed in the same enclosure and the feed is dispersed according to the animal's weight. In particular, a feeding carrousel capable of carrying up to 12 animals each in one enclosure on the carrousel at one time is disclosed in which a load cell determines the total weight of the carrousel and the animals thereon and the weight of an animal entering an enclosure of the carrousel is computed from the change in the total weight. An exit gate from the enclosure is opened when the animal is expected to have finished eating and the animal may be urged to leave the enclosure, but no means for urging the animal are disclosed.
Another apparatus for automatic, individual feeding of animals is disclosed in DE 37 01 864 in which the animals are weighted and/or identified at one station from which each animal is selectively lead to one of a plurality of individual feeding pens, is lead back to the stock if they have been fed or is lead to a separation area by means of moving or turning the weighting/identification station between the different destinations. The identification of the animals is made by means of an identification tag fastened to each animal and the amount of feed in the feeding pens is measured out for the individual animal.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,517,923 discloses an automatic animal feeding system, in particular for cows, in which the animals are fed individually upon identification of the animal from automatically reading of an identification tag attached to each of the animals. The amount of feed provided to the animal is based on information collected about each animal, such as the animal's weight. The animal may be weighted manually where after the weight is entered into the control system, or the animals may be weighted automatically on a commonly accessible scale which periodically measured the weight of the animal, on scales provided in the feeding pens or on scales provided in the parlour stalls.
An automatic feeding pen for animals is disclosed in WO 91/03930 in which the animals can eat individually and the identity of the animal is recorded together with the amount of feed consumed so at to monitor the amount of feedstock taken by each animal. Each of the animals is provided with a transmitting device to enable individual identification of the animals.
GB 2 232 053 relates to a system for feeding free-range sows provided with a transponder each. The system comprises an antenna, which registers passing sows and communicates with a computer, which selects whether the sow should be fed. If so, the sow is allowed to enter a receiving area in front of the feeding machines. The amount of food available to the sows may be set to an individual level for each animal and the amount of feed consumed by each animal is monitored.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,673,647 relates to an. automated method and system for providing individual animal electronic identification, measurement and value based management of cattle in a large cattle feedlot. Animals are individually identified and measured by weight, external dimensions and characteristics of internal body tissue. The individual identification and registration of the cattle with respect to physical and other information is used for calculating the optimal time for slaughtering. There is no mentioning of an individual feeding of the cattle or feeding means and the cattle are fed directly on the ground in the herd.
The carrousel disclosed in GB 2 220 834 is advantageous because a large number of animals may be individually fed automatically within a small area. However, the disclosed method of determining the weight of the individual animal, which is an important parameter for determining the overall condition of the animal and for determining the amount of fed to be dispersed to the animal, has shown to have some disadvantages. It is difficult to obtain a precise measure of the weight of a platform that is turning due to vibrations from the drive means and the animals on the platform are at the same time moving around and disturbing the measurement further. It is also difficult to perform regular calibration of the scale in a non-loaded state because it demands a halt of the operation of the carrousel for a longer period as the feeding enclosures must be emptied. Another disadvantage is that a separation of the animals based on their weight requires two outlets from the carrousel, one outlet leading to the common area for the herd and one outlet leading to a separation area, e.g. as shown in GB 2 220 834.
Another problem to be solved for the above carrousel is that experience has shown that the animals and in particular pigs are not by themselves urged to leave the feeding enclosures on the carrousel at the right time. On the contrary, the animals try to stay near the feeding bowl although it is emptied and disturb thereby the operation of the fe
Birch & Stewart Kolasch & Birch, LLP
Jordan Charles T.
Kristoffer Larsen Innovation A/S
Nelson Judith A.
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