Animal husbandry – Animal controlling or handling – Animal relocating – loading or unloading
Reexamination Certificate
1999-11-16
2001-04-03
Poon, Peter M. (Department: 3643)
Animal husbandry
Animal controlling or handling
Animal relocating, loading or unloading
C119S846000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06209492
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to an apparatus and method for herding livestock, and more particularly to a mobile livestock cart and the method of using the cart in relation to conventional livestock pens. While this invention is particularly adaptable for hog confinement buildings and the like, the terms “hogs” or “swine” as used herein are not limiting terms and are to be considered generic to other species of livestock or poultry.
Presently, when herding livestock, individuals will manually guide animals through an alleyway using a combination of panels, electric prods, and guide sticks. Some individuals even use dogs to assist in this activity.
Inherent with this process are a number of problems. First, because of the size of the alleyway, only a limited number of animals will fit into the alleyway. Therefore, after an individual guides the first group of animals from the alleyway and into the chute, to get behind the next group of animals, the individual must either exit the chute, which in many cases involves climbing over a series of gates several feet apart, or navigate back through the next group of animals in the chute one at a time. Neither method is desirable as exiting the chute is time consuming and navigating back through the chute can be dangerous resulting in bruises, scrapes or worse injuries. As a result, a need exists for a device and method that allows an individual to herd an initial group of animals through an alleyway and then move behind a subsequent group without exiting the alleyway or navigating back through a group of animals one at a time.
Therefore, a primary object of the present invention is to provide a mobile cart that assists in herding livestock.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a safe and fast way of herding, loading and unloading livestock.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a mobile livestock cart that can be operated with a minimum of difficulty in a livestock confinement building.
A still further object of the present invention is to provide a mobile livestock cart that is durable and economical to manufacture.
These and other objects will become apparent from the following description of the invention.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The livestock loading cart of the present invention includes a chassis with forward and rearward wheel assemblies that allow movement upon a raised track. Connected to the chassis is a seat and moveable gate. The seat is positioned above the chassis and the gate extends below the chassis.
The method of using the cart involves placing the cart on the tracks so that the cart spans the width of the alleyway. The next step is to release a first group of livestock from pens into a center alleyway that is formed by separate spaced parallel pens and defines the raised track. The cart, which is positioned behind the first group of livestock and with the gate extending substantially perpendicular to the chassis of the cart, is moved toward the first group forcing the group to move down the center alleyway until the group exits the center alleyway. As a second group of livestock is then released into the center alleyway, the gate on the cart is raised to a substantially horizontal position, and the cart is moved to a position behind the second group. Once in position, the gate is dropped to a substantially perpendicular position and the process is repeated by moving the cart toward the second group of livestock.
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patent: 4763605 (1988-08-01), Braum
patent: 1395153 (1975-05-01), None
patent: 988247 (1983-01-01), None
patent: 1664216 (1991-07-01), None
Nguyen Son T.
Poon Peter M.
Zarley McKee Thomte Voorhees & Sease
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