GB2223924A - Improvements relating to a method for monitoring the rearing of animals - Google Patents

Abstract

A method of monitoring the feeding of animals comprising: providing each animal with its own unique identification transponder; providing a dispensing device from which the animals can feed one at a time; detecting the presence of each animal at the dispensing device by detecting signals from the animal transponder; and continuously transmitting signals to excite the animal transponder of each animal which approaches the dispensing device.

Description

Improvements Relating to a Method and Apparatus for Monitorina the Rearing of Animals.

This invention relates to animal husbandry, and in particular concerns apparatus for the feeding of animals for the monitoring of a conversion by animals of feedstuff into body weight.

Because of efficiency demands, the rearing or breeding of animals, such as pigs, is approached today on a much more scientific basis than say thirty years ago. That is to say it is no longer sufficiently efficient to allow animals to feed randomly from a common feeding source, because invariably different animals consume different amounts of food and there is not effective measure to indicate how efficiently any particular animal converts that food into body tissue or fat as the case may be.

If a farmer or breeder can raise his animals however upon a much more efficient basis, then he can produce more predictable results over preset rearing periods, and he can capitalise on this efficiency by for example taking his animals earlier to market or from another aspect he can identify more quickly when particular animals are feeding poorly and may perhaps be unwell.

There are today systems for the control of feeding of animals and typically such systems comprise automatic feed dispensing means controlled by the animals or on a time basis. In one system, an animal may be provided with a transmitter transmitting a signal unique to that animal, and a feed location may be provided with a receiver responsive to that signal that when the animal arrives for feedstuff, the signal emitted therefrom may be detected and the quantity of feedstuff metered into a feeding bin.The system can be controlled to ensure that each animal is given only a re se t nt ^f feedsF f per 8 or per his day as the case may be, and the system would be provided with computing means for logging such things as the frequency of arrival of each animal at the feeding location, the amount of feedstuff consumed by each animal and so on, and such data could be co-related and displayed by graph, print out or on a VDU to provide the farmer or breeder with meaningful information on each animal's feeding habits.

In one system for feeding pigs in this way the feeding location is a cubicle having a rear gate which closes when the pig arrives in the cubicle, preventing other pigs frorr entering the cubicle and from disturbing an eating pig. In a sense therefore there is no competition for the feedstuff.

It is desirable to keep a check on the animals performance in turning feedstuff into lean tissue because if a breeder can monitor this efficiently, then he can most quickly get his animals to best condition for sale and at the earliest time but taking into account the fact that animals will reach prime condition at different rates depending upon their respective feedstuff conversion efficiencies. In addition, a breeder can use this information to select the most efficient feed stuff conversion animals for breeding and so raise the feedstuff conversion efficiency of his stock.

At each feed, typically during a rearing period for the animal, each animal is allowed to cat as much feedstuff as it wishes to satisfy its appetite. Each animal is provided with its own unique identification means1 and over a pre-set monitoring period, it feeds from a dispensing device at which, during each feed, it can consume as much feedstuff as required, and its presence at the feeding station, and the amount of feedstuff which it eats at each feed is automatically monitored.

By allowing each animal to feed in this way, and by monitoring how much it eats, then by subsequent and conventional techniques of weighing and checking the animals body fat layers, an indication is given of the efficiency of the animal in converting the feedstuff into lean meat over the preset time period.

A farmer using such equipment can therefore obtain an indication of how efficiently the animal is converting the foodstuff, and the best time to sell the animal or take it to market which adds consideratly to the overall efficiency of the farmers' business.

The preset time period may be as short or as long as desired, or indeed it may be dictated by each animal increasing in weight from a first lower value to a second higher value, and therefore the preset period may be different for different animals.

The aforementioned systems frequently require the entrance of an animal into the said systems to be detected and various detection devices are employed to do this. Co-pending U.K. Patent Application No.

8701624 describes a detector means which uses an infrared beam comprising an infra-red beam emittor means and detector means which are located so that an animal will interrupt a beam extending between the emittor means and detector means and this will result in the issuance of a signal to a central monitor unit. The said monitor unit issues signals which trigger an identifying means located on the said animal to emit an identifying signal. The identifying signal is received by the said monitor unit which issues a command to enable the food monitoring system to operE'e. -:é - ,;,r.s v uE triggers the operation of the system.

It is known for the detection means to fail to function because of the presence of debris or dust occluding the said means or because of the range of the said means.

In such instances it is not possible to identify any animal which may be in the food monitoring system nor is it possible to determine the amount of food which such an animal may consume.

Accordingly, the invention is concerned with a means of monitoring animal feedstuff conversion efficiency which overcomes this detection failure.

One aspect of the invention concerns a method for detecting the presence of an animal in the monitoring system. The method in accordance with the invention may comprise providing each animal with its own unique identification transponder, providing a dispensing device from which the animals can feed one at a time, detecting the presence of each animal at the dispensing device by detecting signals from the animal transponder, and continually transmitting signals to excite the animal transponder of each animal which approaches the dispensing device.

It is preferred in the present invention that the animals compete for feedstuff and to this end the front of the cubicle is left open so that other animals can annoy the feeding animal to endeavour to force it out of the cubicle so that other animals can eat. This is a significant factor in assessing conversion efficiency.

An advantage of the said monitoring system is that it provides a more reliable means of monitoring when an animal has enteres the system.

A second aspect ot the invention concerns a means for monitoring the animal feedstuff consumption by continually taking weighings of the dispensing device.

What happens in such circumstances is that before an animal starts feeding the continual weighings indicate a steady or quiescent state but when the animal is feeding weighing readings change due to the consumption of feedstuff by the animal and furthermore the readings are rather unstable during consumption as the animal will tend to bump and displace the feed hopper.

However, when the animal stops feeding the readings will again become stable and by examining the stable readings an accurate indication of the amount of feedstuff consumed can be ascertained. Also, the specific animal can be identified by the animal transponder.

An advantage of such a feed monitoring system is that it provides a means of more precisely measuring the amount of food consumed by each animal as by continually recording the weight of the feed, the time that an animal begins and ends feeding can be correlated with the weight recordings and a stable record of the weight before and after the animal feeds can be determined.A further advantage of the said system is that it provides a means of identifying when an animal has eaten even if the signal identifying means has failed as in the event of such a failure by comparing the recorded end weight of a feed of an identified animal with the recorded start weight of a feed of an identified animal the weight of the unassigned feed can be determined and after checking all the identification means the weight of the unassigned feed can be allocated to the correct animal.

Another aspect of the invention concerns a means for measuring the weight of an animal in the food monitoring system. The apparatus in accordance with the invention may comprise a cubicle comprising an inner casing with a narrow elongated treadplate flanked by sloping sides to ensure that only one animal at a time can enter the cubicle; the inner casing of the said cubicle preferably is mounted by parallelogram linkages to an outer casing and preferably there is an animal weight measuring load cell connected between the casings.

An advantage of tbe said apparatus is that it provides a means for measuring the weight of an animal when it enters the said food monitoring system. A further advantage of the said apparatus is that it ensures that only one animal at a time can enter the food monitoring system.

An embodiment of the invention will now be described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein: Fig. 1 is a cut-away perspective view of part of apparatus according to the present invention; Fig. 2 is a plan view of part of the apparatus shown in Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is a perspective view of part of the apparatus shown in Fig. 2; Fig. 4 is a perspective view of one end of the apparatus shown in Fig. 1; Fig. 5 is a sectional view of the apparatus as shown in Fig, 4, section kelra taker on the line \' V cf r~, 4; Fig. 6 is a part sectional view showing a modified form of apparatus according to the present invention; and Fig. 7 is a diagrammatic view showing the circuit of a a control system of the apparatus according to Fig. 1 or Fig. 6; Fig. 8 is a diagrarr of a chart recorder which measures how a food dispenser is displaced when an animal is feeding.

Fig. 9 is a perspective view of a measuring cubicle in accordance with the invention.

Referring to the drawings, and firstly to Fig. 1, the apparatus shown is for use in the rearing of pigs, but it is to be mentioned at this time that the apparatus according to the invention can be used for other animals such as goats, cows, sheep and ruminants.

The apparatus shown is for receiving an animal such as the pig 10 whilst it is feeding, and so that the animal's feeding pattern or habits can be monitored.

The apparatus comprises essentially a cubicle made up of a pair of spaced plates 12 and 14 which are constructed suitably of metal so as to have substantial rigidity. The plates are held in spaced parallel relationship by means of a plurality of cross bars such as 15, 16 and 18, and others (not shown). When the apparatus is in use, the plates 12 and 14 which are rectangular lie in vertical planes but with their longer sides horizontal so as to define a front end 20 and a rear end 22 of the apparatus. Tne front end 20 is assentially )y oren so tb3t the rnr 1 r n-r enter tDe apparatus through the open end in order to reach a feeding position as shown in Fig. 1 in which the pig can feed from feeding bin 24 forming part of a hopper 26 to be described hereinafter.

When the pig has completed its feeding it moves backwards out of the apparatus.

The apparatus is intended to be used by a plurality of pigs in turn and to this end the hopper 26 is of sufficient capacity so as to accommodate a large volume of feedstuff i.e. of the order of ten times what any one pig is capable of eating.

In order to ensure that only one pig will enter the apparatus at only one time, between the front end 20 and the hopper 26 is a width control mechanism of the construction shown clearly in Figs. 2 and 3. This width control mechanism comprises a pair of parallel plates 28 and 30 which also are arranged in vertical planes, are rectangular, and also lie with their longer sides horizontal in the in-use position. The plates 28 and 30 at their respective ends are pivotally connected to link plates 28A and 28B in the case of plate 28, and 30A and 30B in the case of plate 30.These link plates 28A/B and 30A/B respectively are hingedly connected to the insides of the plates 12 and 14 at pivot points 34, 36, 38 and 90. The plates 28 and 30 are connected to link plates 28A/B and 30A/B at pivot points 42, LILI, 46 and 48.

Connecting bars 50, 52 and 54, 56 connect the pivot points 42, 46 and 44, 48 to a pair of brackets 58 and 60. Each bracket 58 and 60 is pivotally connected to the respective links 52, SLI at pivots 62, 64 and 66, 68 and the brackets are provided with nut blocks 70 and 72 Cr are 1Te enraged bv threaded rod 74 having at the front end a turning nut 76 and being supported by the cross bar 16.

In view of this construction, it will be understood that by turning the rod 74, so the bracket 70 and 72 are made to move axially of the rod (which in itself is restrained from axial movement), and this in turn pivots the links 50 to 56, in turn pivoting the plates 28 and 30 relative to their link plates 28A/B and 30A/B so that the spacing between the plates 28 and 30 can be adjusted.

The reason for providing the capability of adjustment is that the apparatus is intended to be used in connection with pigs over a particular period either set by a fixed time or set by the pigs growing from a lower weight to a preset higher we..ht, because during such period the pigs will increase substantially in size and width and therefore the plates 28, 30 must be capable of being moved apart to accommodate the increase in size of the pigs. The plates 28 and 30 are of course positioned so that at any time during the said period, only one pig can enter the apparatus. Fig.

2 shows one position of the plates 28 and 30 in full lines as used when the pigs are of relatively small size, and an alternative position in dotted lines when the pigs have increased in size.

Referring now to the construction of the hopper 26, it is to be mentioned that the hopper which is for receiving feed stuff such as grain or the like is in fact suspended by means of an arm 80 supported on cross bar 15 and extending in a rearwards direction. The arm 80 includes a strain gauge for measuring the weight of the hopper and its contents, as will be explained in relation to Fig. 7. The hopper is generally square at the top end and has a support bar 82 provided with ar eye 86. This eye is engaged by means of a suspension hook bolt 88 which passes through the arm 80 and is provided with an adjusting wing nut 90 to ensure the correct suspension of the hopper 26 by the arm 80.

The hopper is held in position by a pair of parallelogram type link plates 92 and 96 of which the longer edges are respectively pivotally mounted in bearings 94 and 98 on the hopper, and bearings 100 and 102 carried by the side plates 12 and 14. The purpose of the parallelogram supports, as shown in Fig. 5 are to enable the hopper 26 to have a degree of vertical up and down movement as indicated by arrow 104 in Fig. 5 so that the strain gauge in the arm 80 can be strained in accordance with the weight of material carried by the hopper and the weight of the hopper itself.

At the lower end, the hopper is tapered inwardly so as to cause the feedstuff 106 carried by the hopper to gravitate towards the feed shoe 24 from whence the animal can feed. As shown in Fig. 5, the lower end of the hopper defines inwardly inclined surfaces 108 and 110 leading to a mouth 112 through which the feedstuff 106 can gravitate and can continue to slide down the inclined surface 108 and into the feed shoe 24.

On opposite sides of the feed shoe 24 there may be blanking plates 114 as shown in Fig. 1 to ensure that the pig will feed from the feed shoe 24.

It will be understood that as any particular animal consumes feedstuff from the shoe 24, this is replenished by feedstuff passing the mouth 112, but the overall weight supported by the arm 80 and detected by the strain gauge is reduced as feeding continues.

Referring te Fig. 6, in this figure is shown an alternative embodiment of the apparatus which essentially operates in precisely the same principle as the apparatus of Fig. 1, except for the following modifications. The hopper 26X is isolated from the plates 12X, 14X forming the cubicle for the animal 10X in that the hopper is supported on a base 101 which is bolted to the floor by bolts 103 and has supporting legs 105 carrying the hopper through the parallelogram links 92X and 96X. The bearings 94X are carried by the legs 105 whilst the bearings lOOX are carried by reinforcing bars 107 attached to the sides of the hopper 26X.A bar 109 prevents the animal 10X from coming too close to tbe hopper feeding shoe 24X, whilst enabling the animal to feed as shown. Stradling the top ends of the legs is a mounting bar 80X which carries the load cell referred to in relation to the Fie. 1 embodiment, and suspended from the cross-bar is the hopper 26X by means of a suspension arrangement 88X.

The design of the hopper is also modified in that the wall 108X is provided with an upwardly turned portion 111 and the hopper portion 108X is provided with a removable bung 113 which can be removed for the purposes of cleaning the hopper. The hopper section 110X is provided with an aperture closed by means of an aerial supporting plate 115 which supports the receiver of the detection system to be described.

By isolating the cubicle defined by the plates 12X, 14X from the hopper 26X, the advantages obtain that the hopper does not receive excessive impacts from the animal 10X which could cause malfunctioning and spurious readings from the load cell.

The animal can feed from the apparatus to the extent it requires until satisfied, and this distinguisnes tne apparatus described from many conventiona~ syste:rs ir: which only a preset amount of feedstuff or a multiple thereof is fed to each animal.

The apparatus is combined with a control and monitoring system so that the farmer or breeder can keep a watcn and monitoring surveillance over each animals feeding habits and patterns whereby he can make his business of increased efficiency. The period over which the animals may be watched could be for example over the period when the animals grow from a weight of 35 Kg (typically pigs of age twelve weeks) to a weight of 95 kg (typically pigs of age twenty weeks) or alternatively monitoring can be conducted over a preset time period, say two months.

Referring now to Fig. 7, reference numeral 122 represents a central control unit which emits signals at predetermined intervals over line 128 via the aerial represented by reference numeral 124 and such signals can excite a transmitter unit 126 tied to an animal's ear, when the animal enters the signalling range of the controlling means as shown in Fig. 7, and the transmitter carried by each animal is unique to that animal. The identifying signal from the transmitter unit is detected by the aerial 124 and carried over line 128 to the central control unit 122. The central control unit 122 sends continuous signals over line 132 to the load cell represented by numeral 130, and the load cell sends a signal representative of the weight of the hopper 26 and its contents over line 132 to the unit 122.The weight of the feed is recorded continuously. When the animal leaves the said system the transmitter identifying means is no longer within the range of excitation or detection of the central control means and therefore the transmitter or identifying signal no longer signals the identity of an animal in the system.

If required and in addition the unit 122 may also be programmed to time the period during which the animal feeds.

Referring now to Fig. 8, a chart recorder attached to the dispensing device records the displacement of the feed dispenser over a period of time defined by the X axis. The displacement of the feed dispenser is represented by a series of vertical lines and during a period of quiescence the feed dispenser is stable and this is represented by a horizontal line on the chart reading. Tne interval of time before the point at reference numeral 1 represents a quiescent period before an animal begins feeding. The weight recordings taken during this interval would provide an accurate measurement of tne weight of the feed before an animal commences eating. The interval of time between reference numeral 1 and 2 shows the displacement of the feed dispenser and represents the time that an animal is feeding. The interval of time between reference numerals 2 and 3 represents a short interval of time before the pig resumes it feed. A series of similar activities may be recorded until a point 4 is reached when the displacement of the feed dispenser has ceased and the animal has left the food monitoring system. Weight recordings taken during the interval following reference numeral 4 provides an accurate measure of the weight of the feed dispenser after the animal has finished eating.

Referring now to Fig. 9 a weighing cubicle comprises inner parallel walls 1 which taper to a narrow tread plate 2 which extends along the length of the inner cubicle. The inner cubicle 1 is mounted on parallelogratr linkages, not shown, similar to the feed hopper as described to an outer encasing cubicle 4 comprising two parallel plates connected at their lower edge by a third parallel plate. A load cell 5 is attached between the inner and outer cubicles for measuring the weight of an animal when it enters the feed monitoring system.

The information in the processor 122 can be processed or handled in any desired fashion as is known in the field of data handling and processing, but for example it may be outputted to a computer 136 provided witn a display screen 138 and/or it may be outputted to a printer such as printer 140 so that the results can be obtained in hard copy form. These results can be obtained and interpolated over the period of testing and monitoring, and during this period, the begining and/or end, the animal can be weighed separately if the weighing pad 134 is not provided and/or it can be tested for the increase in lean tissue achieved by the animal over the period and/or it can be tested for the increase in fat in the animal over the period.The testing or increase in lean eat and/or fat can be conducted by conventional means involving the use of ultra sound to measure the thickness of the fat layers on the animal.

The information which can be achieved by the described apparatus includes but is not limited to items such as: 1. How much food is required to produce a certain quantity of lean meat and in what time.

2. An indication as to whether or not any particular animal is ill for example if it suddenly stops eating.

3. The system ensures that each pig can eat as much as it likes and also there is no danger of any animal being ursatisfied.

The control system can be provided with various alarm functions to indicate for example when the hopper needs to be topped up with feedstuff, when the system is not functioning, when a pig which has lost its ear tag arrives in the cubicle or if a particular pig does not eat what is expected of it.

Advantages of feeding and monitoring is described as follows: 1. Each animal can eat as much as it wants and potentially lay down as much lean tissue growth as it is capable.

2. Each animal can be identified.

3. Each animal's feed intake can be logged and accumulated in the computer database.

Each animal still has to compete for feed as in a normal animal pen.

A breeder can easily identify the animals (to be used for further breeding) which can most efficiently convert food to the maximum of lean tissue growth rate expressed in grams/day.

Claims (22)

1. A method of monitoring the feeding of animals comprising: a) providing each animal with its own unique identification transponder; b) providing a dispensing device from which the animals can feed one at a time; c) detecting the presence of each animal at the dispensing device by detecting signals from the animal transponder; and d) continuously transmitting signals to excite the animal transponder of each animal which approaches the dispensing device.

2. A method according to Claim 1, including taking continual weighings to give a measure of the quantity of the feedstuff eaten by each animal.

3. A method according to Claim 1 or 2, including the step of taking weighing of the feedstuff eaten by each animal over a pre-set period of time or growth of each animal.

4. A method according to Claim 3, wherein the weight of the animal is also taken at intervals over said period.

5. A method according to Claim 4, wherein each animals' weight is taken each time it feeds at the dispensing device, the dispensing device having an animal weight measuring means for this purpose.

6. A method according to Claim 1, wherein the detecting step comprises detecting the presence of the animal before it reaches the dispensing device followed by taking a weighing indication of the total feedstuff in the dispensing device.

7. A method according to Claim 5, including the step of measuring the thickness of the fat layers on each animal to provide an indication of the efficiency of each animal in converting feedstuff into lean meat.

8. A method according to Claim 7, including the step of correlating the readings to provide comparisons.

9. A method according to Claim 1, wherein the animals being monitored are arranged so as to have to compete for feedstuff from the dispensing device and whilst each animal is feeding at the device it is still open to disturbance or biting by other animals.

10. A method according to Claim 1, wherein the animals being monitored are pigs.

11. An apparatus for feeding animals comprising a) a cubicle into which only one animal can enter at any one time; b) means defining a feeding location from which the animal can feed when in the cubicle; c) storage means housing sufficient feedstuff to enable any one animal to eat as much as it can whilst in the cubicle; d) detection means for detecting which animal is in the cubicle; and e) control means controlling the operation of the feedstuff weighing means to weigh the storage means when an animal arrives in the cubicle but before it starts eating and after it leaves the cubicle.

12; An apparatus according to claim 11 wherein feedstuff weighing means is connected to the storage means to weigh said storage means.

13. An apparatus according to Claim 11 wherein the cubicle comprises sides and has an inner end at which the storage means is located and an outer end through which the animal enters, said detection means being located between the cubicle ends to detect the presence of the animal before it reaches the storage means.

14. An apparatus according to Claim 13, wherein said sides comprise sloping spaced plates and including parallelogram linkage means supporting said plates and operating means coupled to said parallelogram linkage means to move said plates closer together or further apart depending upon the size of animal.

15. An apparatus according to Claim 13, wherein the outer end is open so that an animal in the cubicle can be disturbed by another animal through said open end.

16. An apparatus according to Claim 11, including a sensor means responsive to an identification transmitter on the ear of each animal, said sensor means being embodied in an aerial located adjacent the storage means.

17. An apparatus according to Claim 11, wherein said storage means comprises a hopper, a feed shoe at the base of the hopper from which animals can feed, a suspension arm, a hook means connecting the suspension arm and the hopper whereby the weight of the hopper and the feedstuff are supported by the dispension arm.

18. An apparatus according to Claim 17, including a strain gauge embodied in said dispension arm for measuring the load carried thereby, said strain gauge forming part of said feedstuff weighing means.

19. An apparatus according to Claim 17, including a frame, links pivotally connected to the frame and to the hopper to guide the hopper in any movements it makes as a result of change in weight in the feedstuff therein.

20. An apparatus according to any of Claims 11 to 19, wherein the storage means is isolated from the means defining the feeding location preventing impacting by the animal in the storage means whilst the animal is feeding.

21. An method substantially a hereindescribed with reference to the accompanying drawings.

22. An apparatus substantially an hereindascribed with reference to the accompanying drawings.