Animal husbandry – Confining or housing – Stall
Reexamination Certificate
1999-06-07
2001-01-23
Poon, Peter M. (Department: 3644)
Animal husbandry
Confining or housing
Stall
C119S518000, C119S712000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06176203
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to devices for positioning cows in cow stalls, and more particularly to a device for training the cow to position itself correctly for preventing the cow from littering its stall floor.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
It is known to provide devices for preventing a cow from littering its stall floor with excrements. For this purpose, rear manure pits or gutters are provided at the rear end of the cow stall, wherein the cow is to evacuate, the stall floor thus remaining free of cow excrements. This littering prevention is especially desirable in the dairy industry, for the dug of the cow to remain clean and free of bacterial contamination; if the stall floor is littered with excrements, the dug of the cow is likely to become infected since the cow will eventually lie down and come in full contact with its underside with the stall floor.
A device to prevent the cow from littering its stall floor is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,967,693 issued in 1990 to Louis A. Prue. Prue discloses a transverse bar to be positioned spacedly and proximately over the back of the cow, the bar being attached by means of three intermediate serially-connected rods to a fixed post of the cow stall. By selectively adjusting the angular relationship between each intermediate rod, the bar can be fixedly positioned over the back of the cow at a suitable location, so that the transverse bar prevent the cow from arching its back. Indeed, since the cow needs to arch its back when evacuating, preventing the cow from arching its back effectively prevents the cow from evacuating at the position where the transverse bar prevents back arching.
In use, Prue teaches that the cow in need to evacuate will move backwards until its back clears the overhanging transverse bar, the hind portion of the cow then being positioned over the gutter, where the cow can evacuate without littering its stall floor. However, the reality is often different: the back of the cow becomes arched at the most of several inches, and thus the transverse bar must be positioned very precisely for it to be operative. The cow may thus arch its back into abutment with the transverse bar, and still be able to evacuate.
OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION
The gist of this invention to provide a device for training a cow to position its hind portion over the stall rear manure pit when it desires to evacuate.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to devices for positioning cows in cow stalls, and more particularly to a device for training the cow to position itself correctly for preventing the cow from littering its stall floor.
The invention more particularly relates to a cow training device for attachment to a fixed cow stall frame of the type preventing the cow from moving beyond a frontmost position, the stall of the type having a coextensive rear gutter, said training device comprising:
a bracket member for fixedly attaching said cow training device to the stall frame;
an arm member pivotally mounted to said bracket member and having an outer free end portion pivotable about said bracket member, said arm member being continuously biased towards a lower limit position in which said arm member outer free end portion is destined to be located spacedly over and in close proximity to the back of the cow, rearwardly of its shoulders and frontwardly of its thighs;
a selectively powered rotatable member carried by said bracket member and a whip fixed to said rotatable member, said whip destined to extend at least to the cow's body frontwardly of said arm member outer free end portion;
a power supply circuit including a switch linked to said whip and releasably interconnecting said arm member and said bracket member so as to allow power to be supplied to said selectively powered rotatable whip only responsively to said arm member being pivotally raised away from said lower limit position;
wherein upon the cow arching its back when it wants to evacuate and when its hind portion is located frontwardly of the stall rear gutter, its back will upwardly abut against said arm member outer free end portion to upwardly pivot said arm member away from said lower limit position, thereby activating said switch to consequently bring said whip into rotation for repetitively hitting the cow; and wherein the position of said arm member outer free end portion in the cow stall allows the cow to arch its back without abutting against said arm member outer free end portion if the cow's hind portion is located over the stall rear gutter, the cow thus being trained to escape whip pain by moving rearwardly in the stall to position its hind portion over the stall rear gutter before it is allowed to evacuate unhindered.
Preferably, said arm member is biased towards said lower limit position under its own weight, and is prevented from further downward movement by an abutment against said bracket member.
Preferably, said arm member outer free end portion is provided with a transverse rod destined to extend transversely and horizontally in the cow stall, for providing a wide abutment surface for the cow's back.
Preferably, said arm member comprises a first connector bar pivotally attached to said bracket member and a second outer bar fixedly attached to said connector bar in a selectively adjustable fashion, to allow selective adjustment of the angular relationship between said connector and outer bars.
Preferably, said arm member includes positional and length adjustment devices which allow selective positional adjustment of said arm member outer free end portion.
Preferably, said whip is an elongated plastic wire connected at an inner end thereof to said rotatable member.
Preferably, the fixed position of said whip can be angularly selectively adjusted.
Preferably, said switch is located in a casing comprising a first half portion attached to said bracket member and a second half portion attached to said arm member, with said first and second half portions of said casing being pivotable relative to each other and thus allowing pivotal displacement of said arm member relative to said bracket member, said casing forming an enclosure when said arm member is in said lower limit position so as to cover said switch member, and said switch member being activated and released upon said arm member and concurrently said casing second half portion being pivoted away from said casing first half portion, with said switch being attached to either one of said casing first and second half portions and engaging the other one of said casing first and second half portions when said arm member is in said lower limit position.
The present invention also relates to a cow training device for attachment to a fixed cow stall frame of the type preventing the cow from moving beyond a frontmost position, the stall of the type having a coextensive rear gutter, said training device comprising:
a bracket member for attaching said device to the cow stall frame;
an arm member mounted to said bracket member and movable relative to said bracket member, said arm member having an outer free end portion and being continuously biased towards a lower limit position in which said outer free end portion is located spacedly over and proximate the cow's back, between the cow's shoulders and thighs;
a rotatable member carried by said bracket member and a whip fixed to said rotatable member, said whip destined to extend at least to the cow's body frontwardly of said arm member outer free end portion;
a power supply circuit including a switch activated under upward movement of said arm member outer free end portion away from said lower limit position for supplying power to said whip upon said arm member being raised away from said lower limit position;
wherein said arm member outer free end portion is positioned so that if the cow archs its back to evacuate and its hind portion is located frontwardly of the stall rear gutter, its back will come into upward abutment with said arm member outer free end portion to upwardly move said arm member away f
Desjardins St{acute over (e)}phane
Rousseau L{acute over (e)}o
Rousseau Victor
Martineau François
Nelson Judith A.
Poon Peter M.
Rovibec Inc.
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