Animal husbandry – Milkers – Milking station arrangements; e.g. – parlors
Patent
1997-02-27
1998-02-17
Price, Thomas
Animal husbandry
Milkers
Milking station arrangements; e.g., parlors
A01J 500
Patent
active
057181853
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to improvements in animal management systems and in particular to a herringbone-type rotary milking parlour.
Reference throughout this specification shall be made to use of the present invention in relation to managing cows for milking purposes. It should be appreciated however that the principles of the present invention can be used to manage other animals for other purposes, for example medical treatment, shearing and so forth.
Reference shall now specifically be made to the use of the present invention in relation to rotary milking parlours, however again it should be appreciated that the principles of the present invention could be applied to other situations.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A wide variety of stationary or rotary milking parlours has been known. Thus, a typical stationary herringbone milking parlour has front and rear corrugated cow position delimiting means (front and rear barriers), with the cows usually entering the milking parlour one after the other in such a manner that they step through the parlour in parallel with the milker pit and the frontmost cow moves to the rearmost parlour position and comes to a stand at an angle of approx. 30.degree. to the milker pit to allow easy milker access to the cows' udders from the side. In the herringbone parlour, the cows assume a slightly angular side-by-side possition with their heads pointed towards the parlour side opposite the milker pit. In their milking positions in the herringbone parlour, adjacent animals are offset from each other by about one half their body length, as is customary practice.
In order to ensure that (in the aforesaid milking position) the animals are positioned right next to the rear barrier or parlour delimiting means at the milker pit so that their udders are within the milker's easy reach, it is necessary to keep the distance between the front and rear barriers or cow position delimiting means (mostly corrugated in herringbone parlours) as small as possible, taking the average cow length into account. This requirement results in some constraint on the animals as they enter the milking parlour, which has resulted in preferably the entire front barrier or cow position delimiting means in stationary parlours being displaced in parallel in a direction perpendicular to the milker pit (the so-called "indexing") so as to create more space for the cows entering the herringbone parlour.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,203,280 discloses a stationary herringbone milking parlour on both sides of a milker pit which the animals enter--as is customary in this type of a milking parlour--through an open gate at one end, which forces the foremost cow (of the group to be milked) to traverse the entire milking parlour until it assumes the front milking position in the parlour. The following animals do the same. No special measures are provided for facilitating animal entry and positioning in the milking parlour. However, each one of the front milking stall delimiting means or front barriers has the form of a gate pivotable about a horizontal axis above each cow. In one direction of rotation this gate can urge the cow backwards against the rear barrier at the milker pit; after the milking, the gate is acutated in the opposite direction so as to drive the cow from the milking stall.
It has been known that rotary milking parlours provide major advantages for the milking process if the cow herds to be milked are large. In this case, too, successive animal access to the milking parlour presents a number of difficulties, which are reflected in the various designs disclosed in British Patent 1,459,399. This patent discloses a rotary milking parlour with radial milking stalls in which the cows assume their milking positions with their heads directed towards the center. Access to such a milking position from the outside is fairly simple as the cow only has to step forward. Once milking is finished after one revolution, it is difficult for the cows, however, to leave their
REFERENCES:
patent: 2039562 (1936-05-01), Shordron
patent: 2236851 (1941-04-01), Haselton
patent: 2472122 (1949-06-01), Polivka
patent: 3203280 (1993-04-01), Nelson
patent: 3759225 (1973-09-01), Galbraith
patent: 3765373 (1973-10-01), Phillips
Oliver Christopher Kelson
Pichler Olaf
Alfa Laval Agri AB
Price Thomas
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