Animal husbandry – Milkers – Milking station arrangements; e.g. – parlors
Reexamination Certificate
1999-11-01
2001-02-13
Poon, Peter M. (Department: 3644)
Animal husbandry
Milkers
Milking station arrangements; e.g., parlors
C119S840000, C119S524000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06186093
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates in general to dairy cattle housing, and is more particularly directed to a gate arrangement for controlling the intersection of a feed drive-through with a cow lane in a freestall barn. The invention is more particularly concerned with an improved gate arrangement that facilitates driving the feed delivery vehicle along the feed drive-through or feed driveway, and which allows the cow lane or lanes to be closed off when need be so that the cows (do not wander onto the drive-through.
Freestall dairy barns, also known as loose housing, have become an attractive option for dairy farmers who want to maintain and manage a large dairy herd. The advantages of the freestall housing system over other confined herd arrangements, such as tie stall barns, are well known. These include reduction of bedding per cow, less space per cow, ease of manure removal, reduced udder washing time before milking, higher milk quality, and less frequent udder injury. A fleestall barn requires a building design that is similar to conventional loose housing, but with stalls and lanes constructed to define resting areas, watering areas, feed areas, and cow lanes for the cows to walk to and from a milking center. In the resting areas, freestalls arc arranged in parallel rows with adjacent concrete alleys that provide safe, convenient passages for the cows to other parts of the freestall barn and other parts of the housing system. The alleys have gutters or other means for collection of manure, which is flushed into a manure handling tank. Each resting area also has a feed alley where the cows feed themselves. These are normally located adjacent and parallel to a feed drive-through or feed driveway. There is a barrier between the feed alley and the drive-through, which can include a row of feed stanchions. A feed table of about 2 to 3 feet in width lies along the barrier on the drive-through side, and the cows can place their necks and heads over the barrier to eat the feed that is distributed on the feed table. Normally, a feed vehicle is driven along the drive-through once or several times a day to bring in the feed, and the feed is spread out on the feed tables that lie along both sides of the feed drive-through.
The milking of the cows is carried out at a milking parlor located outside the barn. A single milking parlor can service several freestall barns. Cow lanes connect the various resting areas in the barn with the milking parlor. Because cow resting areas are located on both sides of the feed drive-through, the cow lanes have to cross the feed drive-through. Also, to keep the travel distance to a minimum and to permit groups of cows to be moved easily between the barn and the milking parlor, the cow lanes leading to the parlor are best located at the center of the barn, crossing the feed drive-through at the center.
Gates and fences are needed to funnel and direct the cows, and at the intersection of the cow lane(s) with the drive-through, a gate is necessary to prevent the cows from walking onto the drive-through. On the other hand, the gates must be opened to permit the feed delivery vehicle to pass along the drive-through. To date, there has been no gate arrangement proposed that would facilitate opening of the gate at the crossing of the cow lane, but which can reliably keep the cows from wandering onto the feed drive-through. There has been no gate arrangement that is automated or mechanized so that the gates can be opened and closed by the driver of the feed delivery vehicle.
Several freestall arrangements for housing cows are described in the literature. For example, dividers for freestall barns are described in Abel U.S. Pat. No. 4,911,104, a portable free stall module is described in Kilbum U.S. Pat. No. 4,599,972, and a related stall construction for a free stall barn is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,715,322. As a matter of background, general guidelines for constructing and employing freestall barns for a dairy herd are found in Robert E. Graves. Guideline for Planning Dairy Freestall Barns, Northeast Regional Agricultural Engineering Service Cooperative Extension, Ithaca N.Y., 1995. Other useful background information can be found in Moeller et al., Free-Stall Loose Housing for Dairy Cattle, ID-63, Purdue University Cooperative Extension Service; Ilam.nond, Dairy Free Stall Design, University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Services Cooperative Extension Service; and Chastain et al., Dairy Lighting System for Free Stall Barns and Milking Centers, Pub. AEU-12, University of Minnesota Extension Service, Department of Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering, August 1966.
OBJECTS AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Accordingly, it is an object of this invention to provide a four-way agate arrangement for a freestall dairy barn which overcomes the drawbacks of the prior art.
It is another object to provide a gate arrangement for the intersection of the feed drive-through with one or more cow lanes, and which can be conveniently moved between a position in which the cow lanes are open and another position in which the feed drive-through is open, and which is configured to keep cattle from escaping from the cow lanes into the drive-through when the gate arrangement is moving between positions.
It is a further object to facilitate the distribution of feed to the cows in the freestall barn, and to enable the feed delivery truck driver to open and close the gates without leaving the vehicle.
It is a still further object to provide a gate arrangement that prevents cows from wandering onto the feed drive-through.
In accordance with an aspect of the present invention, a freestall barn for dairy cattle is provided with a four-way gate drive-through gate arrangement. The barn comprises a plurality of freestall resting areas each of which includes resting stalls and at least one feed alley; a feed drive-through adapted for passage of a feed deliverer vehicle and disposed in the barn such that the feed alleys of the freestall resting areas are adjacent to and parallel to the feed drive-through; and at least one cow lane crossing the feed drive-through at an intersection thereof and extending between the freestall resting areas. The cow lane permits cows to proceed between the freestall resting areas and to and from a milking station. The four-way drive-through gate assembly has four swinging gates disposed to pivot on vertical axes at respective corners of the intersection. The gates are movable between a first position in which the gates block the drive-through but permit passage of cows along the cow lane, and a second position in which the gates block the cow lane but permit passage of the feed delivery vehicle along the feed drive-through.
The four-way drive-through gate assembly further includes linkage means for mechanically linking the four gates so that when the gates are moved between the first and second positions, the gates disposed diagonally opposite one another rotate in the one direction and the gates disposed adjacent one another rotate in opposite directions (e.g., gates one and three move clockwise while gates two and four move counterclockwise).
In one favorable arrangement, there is also a second cow lane parallel to the cow lane mentioned above, and which crosses the drive-through so that there is a second intersection. In this case, the four way drive-through gate assembly can include a second four gates disposed to pivot at respective corners of this second intersection. A linkage joins the second four gates with the first-mentioned four gates so that when the first-mentioned four gates are situated in their first position the second four gates similarly block the feed drive-through, and when the first-mentioned four gates are disposed in their second position the second four gates similarly block the second cow lane.
The gates each have a radial (i.e., horizontal) length of substantially half the diagonal distance across the intersection, so that the gates very nearly meet when they are halfway between their first and
Burdick Gale W.
Finn Todd Weiss
Horst Glenn Z.
Sensenig James L.
Abbott Yvonne R.
Molldrem, Jr. Bernhard P.
Norbco Inc.
Poon Peter M.
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