Feeding trough for animals

Details Feeding trough for animals Feeding trough for animals

1990-02-02

1993-01-05

Mancene, Gene

Animal husbandry

Feeding device

Hopper and trough

119 524, A01K 500

Patent

active

051761041

DESCRIPTION:

BRIEF SUMMARY
This invention relates to feeding troughs for animals particularly, but not exclusively, for pigs.
Problems with known feeding troughs particularly for pigs are spillage of feed, unequal intake of feed, aggression during feeding and fouling of the feed. These problems arise at least partly because of poor feeder design which takes no account of the size and shape of pigs whilst feeding nor of their feeding and social behaviour.
An object of this invention is to obviate or mitigate the aforesaid disadvantages.
According to one aspect of the present invention there is provided a feeding trough for animals comprising an elongate trough member sub-divided by vertical partitions into individual compartments, the width of the compartments, the height of a front wall of the trough over which the animal's head extends, and a canopy which restricts the space within the compartment into which the animal's head can reach, all being designed erogonomically with respect to a range of animals intended to use the trough.
According to another aspect of the present invention there is provided a feeding trough for animals comprising an elongate trough member, the base of which is at floor level and the front wall of which extends from said floor level to a predetermined minimum brisket height of a predetermined smallest size of the type of animal intended to feed, said trough member having an inner front wall which extends angularly downwards and inwards of the trough to terminate at floor level and an inner rear wall which extends angularly downwards to terminate at a predetermined height above floor level at said mean reach, a canopy overlying the trough member and extending inwards and downwards to meet the inner rear wall at the predetermined mean neck angle of the mean weight of animal at a position equal to the maximum nose-to-crown length of the predetermined largest animal and partitions spaced along the trough at intervals equal to the maximum shoulder width of the largest animal.
An embodiment of the present invention will now be described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:
FIG. 1 is an isometric view from the front and to one side of a portion of a feeding trough according to the invention;
FIG. 2 is a sectional side elevation on the line A--A of FIG. 1 of the feeding trough; and
FIG. 3 is a set of formulae.
Referring to the drawings, the feeder trough 10 is an elongate member divided into compartments 11 by vertical partitions 12.
The trough has a front wall 13, and an inner front wall 14 which slopes downwards and inwards of the trough. The trough also has a canopy 15 which has an underside 16 sloping downwards and rearwards to meet a rear wall 17. The rear wall 17 terminates short of the floor 18 of the trough at a predetermined height above floor level.
The dimensions of the feeder trough are provided by a set of design criteria namely seven features which are labelled 1 to 7 on FIGS. 1 and 2 and six of which are ergonomically related to a selected group of pigs, as indicated in the following table:


______________________________________ FEEDER DESIGN CRITERIA ______________________________________ 1. Maximum nose to crown of largest pig NC95 2. Height of food off floor H 3. Minimum brisket height of smallest pig BH5 4. Mean reach of mean weight of pig RE50 5. Mean neck angle of mean weight of pig NA50 6. Mean head angle of mean weight of pig HA50 7. Maximum shoulder width of largest pig SW95 ______________________________________
These feeder trough dimensions can be obtained from mathematical expressions relating to each of these six ergonomically related features as illustrated in FIG. 3 where W is the weight of a pig and H is the height of the feed above floor level. H is a known value and will remain substantially constant because as feed is consumed it is replaced from a reservoir behind the rear wall 17. These formulae are derived from regression analyses on logarithmic transformed body dimensions data, and represent an estimat

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