AU7312298A - Walk through feeding stall - Google Patents

Description

Au S TrAE~kh I A Patents Act 1990 COMPLETE SPECIFICATION STANDARD PATENT WALK THROUGH FEEDING STALL The folflowina statement Is a full lescription of -this invention, including the best method cfE performing it krwwn to me 2 WALK THROUGH FEEDING

STALL

This invention relates to a walk through feeding stall for restraining animals Whilst being fed after moving them from one location and prior td moving them to another location- This invention will be described particular reference to a dairy cow but it is intendedk at the invention will be suitable for restraining and E*feding a variety of A ,I animals such as beef cattle, sheep and goats such as in a feedlot situation.

In a standard herringbone dairy:the cows enter from one end and walk down the milking platform in a single file until the lead cow reaches the stall nearest the exit gate where she stops to feed while the milking machine is fitted to the cow. Cows behind stop at the subsequent stalls until S 15 all the positions are full.

At the completion of milking a gate is opened at the opposite end from where the cows entered the dairy and the cows then exit the dairy.

In large herringbone dairies it has been found that time is wasted waiting for cows to exit the dairy in a single file.

The milking process will be shorter if all cows on one side of the dairy are able to exit te dairy simultaneously.

A system in use in New Zealand uses a rail, known as a breast rail, and the operator having milked the cows then actuates a mechanism so this rail in front of the covs drops away and into an appropriate trough in the concrete so that the cows are able to walk straight ahead to exit the dairy- Sith the New Zealand system there was no provision for cows l; this was not suited to to be fed in the dairy and this was not suited to Australian dairy farming practices. However the echniqu of simultaneous or rapid exiting of dairy cattle from the I dairy has a substantial saving in time to the dairy farmer.

Depending on the size of the dairy it could take up to three minutes for the last cow to exit the dairy.

This invention draws on the New Zealand experiences of exiting the cows so as to save time. However substantial improvements have been made to enable this invention to serve a number of purposes important to the dairy farmer.

This invention enables the cows to be fed in the dairy in a series of adjacent units, it allows the cows to be restrained while feeding so that cows are not able to rob grain from the ration dispensedto neighbouring cows and on completion of milking it allows the cows to exit the dairy simultaneously :i~i This invention allows for simultaneous exiting of covs from the dairy without the necessity and additional cost of having a trough moulded into the concrete, eliminates hygiene problems associated with the build up of effluent in the trough, eliminates the need for time consuming cleaning of the trough and allows the builder to lay the concrete floor in the dairy in an orthodox manner.

1 This invention allows for feeding concentrates in the dairy while still allowing the quick discharge of the animal or animals. It also allows for a plurality of stalls to be adjusted to accomodate the mean average length of different I" herds.

The feed manger lifting mechanism utilises a driven shaft, a cable entwined around the given shaft to form a capstan S 15 effect, a counterweight on one end of the wire rope encased -within a housing where the counterweight size will be determined by the weight of the feed manger and associated equipment to be lifted thus minimising the power requirements required for the driven motor and eliminating the necessity for a clutch and/or braking mechanism to hold the feed manger and associated equipment up in the air.

A

A suitable forward reversing switch would operate the electric motor to enable the equipment to be moved up or down. A microswitch would be incorporated to stop the unit when it reaches a predetermined point when moving upwards and conversely when operating the switch to move the equipment downwards a microswitch switch turns the motor off when it reaches a predetermined position going downwards.

The breast rail is designed in a hinged arrangement and is 1 self locking when in the down position restraining the cow from going any further forward. When the feed manger is lifted the breast rail via its hinging arrangement concertinas towards the feed manger and tucks itself on-the underside of the feed manger to eliminate the possibility of the head of the cow being caught by the upward movement of the breast rail.

Experience in recent years has shown that there is a trend to considerable variation in the size of cattle between herds. An advantage of the present invention is that it 2 0 has been designed so that the side rails attached to the gate can be adjusted to shorten or lengthen the walk through feed stall to accomodate cattle which are shorter or longer in body length.

The act of increasing or decreasing the length of the side rails moves the breast rail and gate into the appropriate position.

The normal practice of the dairy, industry in Australia is concentrates in the dairy during milking and allow the cows to graze in the paddock between milkings. However it is becoming apparent that for cows to attain their Sgenetic potential higher producing cows in the herd may need to be given additional concentrates outside milking 1. times.

IIt is becoming evident that with advances both in genetics S. and our knowledge of nutrition cows have the capacity to produce more milk.

l However with regard to feeding concentrates, the increasing 15 time required for a cow to consume the amount of feed she may need to optimise on her genetic potential is ejected to result in a mixture of in dairy and out of dairy i feeding.

The more common usage of automatic identification in Australian dairies lends itself to accomodate a combination of in and out of dairy feeding. A further advantage of the walk through feeding stall is that it allows dairy cows to be fed part of their daily feed ration at a location external to the dairy.

7 There are- a number of inventions dealing with the use of gates to control the movement o4-: cows in a specific order into and out of the individual feeding stalls in a dairy.

For example U.S. patent Number 5,000,119 titled Wedge- Milk-ing Stall and Parlour and Australia- Patent Application Number 22759/92 titled Gate Assembly for Milking Shed deal with gates used in controlling cows in a I dairy. However the operation of these gates requires springs or counterweights.

With the walk through feeding stall the pivot bar is inclined in the vertical position allowina the gate to use *gravity to return to the closed position when unrestrained, thus elimi-nating -the, need for any sprinigs and counterweights.

One section of the gate f-ul1v endcoseri Dr inf iled with ight gauge steel or s imila.3r to beco--me a visual I lar r er.

Each individual unit is desianed to ensure that no cow cain have access to another cow's feed allocation.

Whilst the invention is designed as a singular unit it can Sreadily be increased to form a Dlurahity of unit s Tr this form, the second section of the cate an activation bar designed so that when the -fis- cov enters he stallfurthest: from the entry, the bar is mo-ve causing -,h adjacent stall to be onened for the followin-,cl~l 8 One example of the invention will now be described with reference to the acccompanying drawings in which: FIG. 1 shows the side elevation of the unit with all component parts assembled.

FIG. 2 shows the frame with component parts removed.

°FIG. 3 shows a gate mechanism with the retaining bolts in the frame that enable the gate to be moved inwardly or outwardly.

FIG. 4 shows the carrier including the roller mechanism, the harness for the housing of the feed manger, which.has been removed, and the breast rail mechanism.

FIG. 5 shows the counterweight within the housing of the frame and the shaft with the cable entwined around it, the motor gearbox affixed to the shaft, the bearing housing and a cut down section of the spreader bar.

FIG. 6 shows the pit area where the operator would work and the forcing wings that would direct the animals onto the platform following the arrow flow and a dotted line which represents the gate in the open position at the first feeding stall. A plurality of units are located adjacent to each other.

In Figure 1 there is shown a walk through feeding stall with the feed manger 18 in the downward position with the breast rail 20 extended onto location plate 22 and f ttached to the the carrier 16 with the carrier being attached to guide rail O0. The carrier 16 as shown in detail in Figure 4 follows the guide rail 30 when the feed manger and assoclated equipment is being raised or lowered.

The breast ral 20 in solid line configuration shows the breast rail extended to prevent the cow from pushing o0 forward. The carrier 16 and feed manger 18 in solid line configuration are shown in the position for the cow to eat.

The carrier 16, the feed manger 18 and the breast rail .are shown on Figure 1 in dotted line configuration in the raised position allowing exit for the cow.

In the raised positon the breast rail 20 is hinged downwardly having slid along the location plate 22 toards the feed manger 18 during the lifting mode until striking suitably located stops 24 keeping the breast rail 20 on an angle so that when being returned to the downward position the stops 24 enable the breast rail 20 to slide along the location plate 22 to reposition the breast rail 20 as shown by the solid line configuration in Figure 1- The gate mechanism 14 is shown in detail in Figure 3 and the frame 12 is shown in detail in Figure 2.

Figure 2 shows the frame consisting of a series of rails 32, 34, 36- 40, 42 and 44, the guide rail 30 and the mounting posts 46. The guide rail 30 for the carrier 16 (Fig. 1) is fixed to rail 32 which allows the counterweight 92 (Fig. 5) to be housed.

The bearing mounting 49 allows for the means to fix a bearing 102 to the top section of the frame (see Figure 1 0 Rails 34 and 36 prevent the cow from reaching into the next feed manger (as shown in Figure 6) and also allow for. the :gate mechanism to be inserted (as shown in Figure 3).

Spreader bars 38 located between rails 34 and 36 keep these rails in a fixed position.

Rails 40, 42 and 44 complete the frame and retain it in a fixed position. Rail 44 forms the bottom runner and is connected to the mounting posts 46.

The mounting posts 46 would either be placed in location and fixed in concrete or bolted to the concrete floor with suitable bolts allowing for the bottom rail 44 to be inserted between suitable guide brackets 48 fixed to mounting posts 46.

Y~L ~~YI Guide brackets 48 would have provision for a bolt or similar that when tightened keeps the frame in a fixed position and yet when bolts through guide brackets 48 are loosened allows movement of the total frame 12 towards or away from the operator's position 200 (as shown in Figure 6).

SFigure 3 shows a schematic view of the gate mechanism 14.

Rails 50 are of a smaller: size than rails 34 allowing rails to slide inside rails 34 until the desired length is reached and they are locked into position with retaining bolts 62.

Spreader bar 52 is located close to gate pivot bar 56.

Suitably designed plates 54 hold the pivot bar 56 in position whilst allowing the pivot bar 56 to be rotated through approximately a ninety degree angle so that the activation bar 60 can rotate until it makes contact with spreader bar 52.

The activation bar 60 being fixed to pivot bar 56 allows for rotation when pressure is applied causing the gate 58 also to rotate outwardly as shown in Figure 6. The gate 58 is infilled with metal to form a visual barrier to the cow.

The activation bar 60 is smaller than the gate 58 and the activation bar has a set constructed so as to interlock inside the gate 58 at the adjacent stall.

Figure 4 shows a schematic of the carrier 16 with the feed manger 18 removed. The tubular pipe 70 is constructed from material of larger dimensions than that of the guide rail 30 (see Figure 2) allowing free travel of the pipe upwardly or downwardly over the guide rail Affixed to pipe 70 are rollers 72 which are designed to centralise the pipe 70 on guide rail 30 so that when force is applied the carrier assembly 16 is able to travel freely upwards or downwards on the guide rail A single walk through feeding stall requires two pipe and four rollers 72, a second walk through feeding adjacent 'to the first will require only one additional pipe 70 with two rollers 72. To ensure correct placement of pipe 70 and rollers 72 spreader bars 74 are affixed in a suitable manner. The spreader bars 74 are used to affix support arms 76 which carry the feed manger 18.

cl i The breast rail extension arm 80 is affixed to the lower bar 74. Located on the top side of the extension arms are hinges 78 Which connect the breast rail support arms to the breast rail extension arms 80 allowing the breast rail support arms 20 and the breast rail 82 to pivot when the carrier frame 16 is raised or lowered.

On the underside of extension arms 80 are stops 24 so that when the carrier frame is raised the breast rail extension arms 20 and the breast rail 82 having slid along the 10 location plate 22 (see Figure 1) are maintained at an angle (see Figure 1 dotted line configuration) to ensure a freely sliding effect when returning downwards along location plate 22 (Figure 1).

as Figure 5 shows a schematic drawing of the driving head and shaft affixed to the top of the frame (as shown in Figure 1) and a cut away section of rail 32 exposing the counterweight 92 described in Figure 2.

The guide rail 30 is joined to rail 32 (as shown in Figure 2) which is the housing for counterweight 92. The 92 is kept in position by a rope or chain a 96, which is guided by a guide pulley 98 to ensure a free passage upwards or downwards inside rail 32.

14 The guide pulley 98 is maintained in position by retaining pin 90 affixed to rail 32. The rope or chain 96 is then entwined aroundlthe drive shaft 100 and the rope or chain 96 is fixed to the carrier frame 16 shown in Figure 4.

The drive shaft 100 is held in location by bearing 102. A plurality of bearings 102 would be installed along the plurality of walk through feeding stalls with the drive shaft 100 installed through the plurality of bearings 102.

I' With a single walk through feeding stall two bearings 102 would be installed to retain the drive shaft 100 in the Scorrect location. The bearings 102 would be retained in location by bolting to mounting posts 46.

The drive shaft 100 is connected to reduction box 104 which is driven by motor 106. The size of the motor 106 would be S 15 determined by the number of walk through feeding stalls interconnected to the drive shaft 100 (see Figure 6) and would be controlled to run clockwise and anti-clockwise.

Whilst the desired method of operation would be using an electric motor 106 through a reduction box 104, this invention could be hydraulically driven or by any motor with.clockwise and anti-clockwise capabilities.

In the configuration shown using electric motor 106 connected. to reduction box 104 a suitable mounting plate 108 would be -ihstalled to retain the motor 106 and the reduction box 104 in a fixed position.

An interconnecting pipe 94 is installed between the frames 12 (as shown in Figure 1) to ensure stability to the upper section of the frame. A.section of this interconnecting pipe 94 is shown in Figure Figure 6 shows a plurality of adjacent walk through feed stalls connected in a series and the animal flow into the stalls. The arrow 208 represents the animal flow having been funnelled onto the platform 204 via funnel 202 and barrier 206. The pit area 200 is where the operator works.

The animal flow is directed along the platform 204 and a 15 visual barrier is maintained between stalls by the gate 58 (see Figure The leading animal is directed into the stall closest to the exit by barrier 210.

As the leading cow swings into this stall it contacts activation bar 60 causing the gate 58 and the activation bar 60 to rotate into the position shown by the dotted line on Figure 6. The forward motion of the animal is arrested by the breast rail 82 (see Figure 4).

With the leading animal in the stall nearest the exit gate the barrier formed by gate 58 is removed from the second stall from the exit gate allowing the next animal to enter.

This process would then continue until the last animal occupies the stall closest to the entry of animals through funnel 202.

SHaving filled the stalls with animals the operator, in the case of cows, would attach the milking equipment. Once milking is completed the operator activates a suitable button or lever to cause motor 106 to operate. The motor 106 via reduction box 104 causes the drive shaft to rotate in the direction which causes the counterweight 92 (s S Figure 5) to. travel in a downward direction so that. the .carrier 16 moves in an upward direction until a 15 micrositch is activated causing the carrier 16 to stop and allowing the animals to walk forward under the carrier 16 (see dotted line configuration on Figure 1) to exit the dairy.

When all animals have exited the plurality of feed stalls 2 the operator would activate a suitable button or lever causing the motor 106, the reduction box 104 and the drive shaft 100 to rotate in the opposite direction causing the counterweight 92 to ascend and the carrier 16 to descend to the position shown by the solid line configuration in Figure 1.

I Modifications and variations such as would be apparent to a skilled addressee are considered within the scope of the present invention.

For example whilst a preferred method of operation would be an electric motor running through a reduction box it could also be driven hydraulically or by any unit that has the capacity to operate in a rotary manner or enables the direction to be changed from clockwise to anticlockwise.

It is envisaged that the feeding system associated with L this walk through feeding stall would be operated by air, electric or computer control.

In addition a single walk through feeding stall or a plurality of walk through feeding stalls can be located away from the dairy to allow for feeding dairy cows at times other than at milking or for feeding other livestock in a feedlot situation.

Claims (1)

12. -A walk through feeding stall accordiflg to claim 1 wherein the breast rail is in the extended horizontal 'position while the ainimal is restrained and when the carrier, feed manger and breast rail are raised to allow the animal to exit the stall the breast rail is swings into a retracted vertical ositiofl- 3. A walk through feeding rtl coifgto claim~ and cla .im 2 wherein the pivot bar of the gate mechanism is inclined in the vertical POSItILOn at sucn nages as to utilise gravity so that the gate closes automfatically- -i;uba 4. A walk through feed stall according to any of claims 1 to 3 wherein the side rails of the gate mechanism can be adjusted inwardly or outwardly from a fixed position to decrease or increase the length of the feeding stall so that the gate is moved inwards or outwards to accomodate the turning circle of the animal. A plurality of walk through feeding stalls according to any of claims 1 to 4 located side by side for the 10 feeding of animals in a dairy or feedlot situation. 6. A walk through feeding stall substantially as herein descibed with reference to the accompanying drawings. Dated this 23rd day of June 1998 INNOVATIVE AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS PTY. LTD.