GB2320407A - Livestock handling system - Google Patents

Abstract

An apparatus for transporting small livestock such as poultry comprising a plurality of drawer containers for holding livestock, mounted in a frame 15 in a single column one above each other; characterised in that the frame further incorporates wheels to enable the frame/drawer combination to be propelled by hand from a transporting lorry to a position directly adjacent the cages in a battery unit.

Description

LIVESTOCK HANDLING SYSTEM Field of the Invention This invention concerns improvements relating to a method of and apparatus for the handling and movement of small livestock, especially within a specialised unit such as a battery unit or any other type of laying unit. The invention is of particular application in the handling of poultry such as pullets, turkeys and the like but it is to be appreciated that the invention may be used in the handling of other small livestock.

Background to the Invention Since the early 1950's, the intensive production of poultry in the UK has expanded considerably. In 1955 approximately 25 million chickens and probably 1 million turkeys were produced in the UK. By 1990 the production numbers had risen to 600 million. The vast majority of this livestock went into the production of broiler birds for chicken and turkey meat.

The minority, approximately 28 million birds, were used for egg production.

In 1994 there were over 32 million laying birds in the UK producing more than 9700 million eggs and during this period 23 million hens were slaughtered. The majority of these hens were kept in battery cages in battery housing systems. A typical battery housing system has several houses each about 100m long and about 16m wide containing a flock of about 25000 hens per house. The hens are kept, 4 to 6 at a time, in cages which are arranged in tiered rows along the length of the house with access passageways between them. The passageways are about 0.8m wide but in places, because of cage or feeding equipment and stanchions, the passageways can be reduced to 0.5m. The passageways are the only routes for bringing in the point-of-lay pullets which, at 16 to 17 weeks old, are placed in the cages and again form the only route for removing the hens at about 75 weeks of age. Typically the floor of the house is raised 3m or more above ground level to facilitate handling of manure. However, this makes the handling of the pullets and hens more difficult as they have to be lifted and lowered.

The growth of the broiler bird industry has resulted in the establishment of large processing plants capable of handling substantial numbers of poultry per week. Factories capable of killing up to 500,000 chickens per week are now commonplace.

A traditional method of transporting all forms of poultry was to catch them in the building in which they were housed and to carry them by hand to the nearest roadway where a vehicle awaited them. At the vehicle they were loaded into wooden crates through a small aperture in the top. A traditional crate was 1 metre long by 600mm wide, and of a height appropriate to the species of poultry being carried. The crates were then stacked onto the vehicle and secured into position, and the vehicle travelled to the point of unloading. At the point of unloading the crates were unloaded by hand from the vehicle. The birds were then individually removed through the small top door of the crates, and hung on the poultry processing lines. This system became unpopular because it was labour intensive, physically demanding, and because the violent movement involved resulted in the birds being subject to damage by bruising or broken limbs.

Further developments have been focused on the needs of large processing units which resulted in the development of efficient means of transporting large numbers of live poultry. In the 1960's, it was common to use a special vehicle on which livestock carrying crates were fixed in position. It was therefore only necessary to carry the birds to the vehicles and place them in the crates through doors on the side of the vehicle. At the factory, the birds were again removed from the crates through the same doors, and hung on the processing lines.

This system eliminated the individual handling of the crates both at the farm and the factory, and made it possible to automate the cleaning of the total vehicle. However, it was still necessary to carry the birds by hand to the vehicle and to lift them up to the top crates on the vehicle, and at the factory it was necessary to have special facilities so that either the total vehicle was lowered or raised for unloading, or alternatively so that the processing line could be raised or lowered to the height of the vehicle. The birds were still subject to damage during loading and unloading through the relatively small end apertures of the crates.

Further improvements in conveying livestock to a processing plant are described by Sun Valley Poultry Limited and Anglia Autoflow Limited in UK Patents 1 604 298,1 603 199, 2 096 555 and 2 050 309. All these systems use an assembly housing a number of drawer containers such that the complete assembly can be moved using a fork lift truck to or into the poultry house from a lorry and back again. The drawer containers are opened one at a time and loaded with a pre-determined number of livestock before closing the drawer into its housing.

In some cases unloading the drawers is achieved by separately pushing each drawer in turn out of the housing and on to a conveyer adapted to receive each drawer and convey it from the unloading position to a processing position.

The above systems have been developed predominantly for the transport of broiler birds to processing factories, where the volume of livestock lends itseif to automated or semiautomated process. As a result, such systems are not weli adapted for transporting pullets from the breeding houses to the battery units or from the battery units to the processing plants, once the hens have finished laying. More particularly, none of these systems address the fundamental problem of moving large numbers of birds within a battery unit whilst causing the minimum amount of distress and injury.

Attempts have been made to modify and adapt these systems specifically for transporting pullets. One such adaptation is the so-called WHURR MODULE TM, The apparatus for operating this system comprises a number of shelf assemblies designed to hold a plurality of livestock containers together with a support means on which the livestock containers can be stacked. When delivering pullets to a battery unit, for example, the livestock containers are removed from the shelf assembly outside the unit, stacked one on top of each other on the support means and wheeled into the battery units and positioned in the aisles adjacent to the cages in which those birds are to be loaded. In this way the birds can be moved direct to the cage units before any handling takes place. In practice, a series of loaded support means are positioned along an aisle with an empty support means placed at one end. A "loader", starting at the end of the aisle with the empty support means, then transfers the birds from the livestock containers into the cages, shifting the empty livestock containers onto the empty support means or onto a stack of empty containers as he goes.

This system cuts the number of times birds are handled during loading and unloading.

An alternative method is proposed in GB 2 291 576 and whilst this reduces the number of movement the birds undergo it suffers from a number of drawbacks. The individual drawers still have to be stacked and re-stacked which is frightening for the livestock and can potentially cause back or other injury to operatives. Special conveying means and adaptations within the battery unit are required.

Whilst wheeled transporters are known, such as those described in EP 0 546 925 (Allibert Manntention) and US 3,885,525 (Powell et al) these are in no way suitable for use in a modern battery unit. Their cages open on the long side, which is inaccessible when the cages are in the passageways, and they do not allow for the livestock to be lifted clear of the cage through an aperture extending over substantially the entire top face of the cage/drawer. The livestock thus tend to suffer the type of injury prevalent with the prior art apparatus and procedures.

It is the object of the present invention to provide a method of handling and movement of small livestock within a specialised unit which overcomes these disadvantages yet utilises the improvements and equipment already available to the livestock haulier and unit operator.

Summary of the Invention According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided apparatus for transporting small livestock comprising: i) A plurality of drawer containers for holding the livestock, each drawer comprising a base and two pairs of opposing side walls; ii) A frame adapted to receive the drawers in a single column one above each other, said frame incorporating a series of horizontal bars adapted to support the drawers at their bottom edges on opposing sides, the arrangement being such that when the drawers are received in the frame part of the base of each drawer extends below the top of the horizontal bars supporting the drawer; characterised in that the frame further comprises conveying means to enable the frame/drawer combination to be propeiled by hand from a transporting lorry to a position directly adjacent the cages in the battery unit.

This arrangement obviates the need for stacking and unstacking the drawer units and if a tail lift is provided on any transporting lorry it also obviates the need for a fork lift truck.

Preferably the conveying means comprises four wheels, a wheel being positioned at each bottom corner of the frame. In this context the term wheel has a broad, generic meaning.

It is intended to cover any form of wheel, roller, rollerball, skid or other mechanical device which enables the frame of the drawer combination to be moved around by hand.

Preferably the frame further comprises a flat load bearing top adapted to take the weights of other transporting apparatus in a stacking fashion. This enables the transport units to be stacked and wheeled one on top of each other on a lorry.

According to a second aspect of the present invention there is provided a method of transporting small livestock from one building in which the livestock has been raised or is currently housed to another building in which it is to be subsequently housed comprising the steps of: a) providing transport apparatus according to the first aspect of the invention; b) placing the apparatus adjacent to the area where the small livestock is currently housed and loading livestock into one or more of the drawers; c) conveying the apparatus onto a lorry or other transport vehicle using the built-in conveying means and transporting the apparatus to the building in which the livestock is to be subsequently housed; d) conveying the apparatus containing the livestock on the built-in conveying means from the lorry into the building and placing it adjacent the cages into which the livestock is to be housed, aligning the apparatus with the cages as necessary; e) transferring the livestock into the said cages, sliding the drawers in and out of the frame as necessary; f) conveying the empty apparatus back to the lorry for removal.

According to a third aspect of the present invention there is provided a method for the removal of small livestock from a specialised unit in which the livestock is housed in cage units arranged in aisles comprising the steps of: a) providing transport apparatus according to the first aspect of the present invention; b) placing the empty apparatus adjacent the cage units to be emptied; c) transferring the livestock from the cages into the drawers of the apparatus, sliding the drawers out of the apparatus as necessary; d) conveying the full apparatus from the isle to a waiting lorry or other transport vehicle on the built-in conveying means; e) transporting the full apparatus to their destination; f) repeating steps b) - e) as necessary.

Preferably an operator working the above methods works from a position between two adjacent transport apparatus, the number of livestock in each drawer corresponding substantially exactly to the number necessary to give the required population density in the cages adjacent the operator.

Preferably the operator progresses from one end of a passageway to another by climbing by adjacent transport apparatus.

Brief description of the drawings The invention will be further described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings in which: Figure 1 shows a perspective view of transport apparatus according to a first aspect of the invention; Figures 2 and 2A show a transport apparatus as illustrated in Figure 1 with the drawers partially open; Figure 3 shows diagramatically the juxtaposition of battery cages and drawers for ease of transferring livestock; Figure 4 shows diagramatically a tail lift lorry trailer partially loaded with transport apparatus.

Description of the preferred embodiments Particularly preferred aspects and embodiments of the present invention will now be more particularly described by way of example only and with reference to a battery unit for housing pullets.

Referring to Figures 1 and 2, these illustrate transport apparatus 10 according to a first aspect of the invention. The apparatus consists of a frame 11, four drawers 12, four wheels 13 and a solid top 14. The frame 11 comprises upright tubular sections 15 and tubular horizontal bars 16. Additional stengthening members 17 can be included as necessary. The front and rear bottom edges of the drawers 12 include recessed regions on the underside, such that when the drawer is fully inserted into the frame the recessed regions cause the drawer to drop down slightly relative to the framework with a horizontal face of each recessed region engaging the relevant crossbar at the front and rear of the drawer opening. If the drawer is moved forwardly or rearwardly in a horizontal direction whilst in this position, the rear face of the front recessed region will engage the front crossbar, preventing the drawer from being directly removed from the frame in this way. If the drawer is to be removed from the frame, the drawer must be lifted slightly relative to the frame to enable the rather deeper central portion of the base to clear the front crossbar.

The construction is such that the drawers can be withdrawn from the frame nearly to the full extent yet their weight and the weight of any livestock is still supported by the frame and the drawer construction.

There are two important features which, along with a single tier construction of drawers in an open framework construction, distinguish this apparatus from the prior art. First, the frame itself has wheels 13. These wheels are positioned slightly inwardly at each corner such that the wheels themselves are protected by the frame. The frame thus encounters an obstruction before it hits the wheels. This is important because battery units are fitted with rails close to the ground. These rails tend to keep the apparatus from deviating too far from a straight path when they are being pushed either individually or in convoy along the passageways between the cages. This enables an operative to reposition the apparatus whilst he/she is working with some ease. Basically, it prevents the apparatus snagging up on the battery cages.

The term wheel has a broad, generic meaning in this context. It is intended to cover any form of wheel, roller, rollerball, skid or other mechanical device which enables the frame/drawer combination or transport unit to be moved around by hand.

Secondly, the frame has a top 14. This is most important because it means that the frames can be rolled over one another to form a number of layers. This is best illustrated in Figure 4 which shows a part-loaded tail lift trailer. A series of frames has already filled one side of the trailer and the tail lift takes subsequent frames onto a level corresponding to the top of this series. The frames are then simply wheeled along on top of the first row. This is then repeated on the other side of the vehicle. The structure on the trailer body will be described below.

So, in principle, the apparatus consists of a mobile framework containing a plurality of drawers, usually four or five, in a single tier narrow enough to pass through the smallest gap in a battery unit.

The trailer represents a further aspect of the invention. It is well-known that livestock need an adequate air flow when in transit to remove heat and ventilate the livestock. In the past this has been achieved in a variety of ways such as using specially designed frameworks.

It has been discovered that it is possible to create an air gap down the centre of the trailer by installing guidebars 20 supported on uprights 21 at the appropriate height on the trailer. At least two sets of guidebars are provided for each layer of frames. This simplifies matters considerably. The guidebars simply direct the frames into two side-by-side rows. Once a particular row is full then the frames can move neither forwards, backwards or side-to-side.

The livestock can be safely transported in this manner.

Turning now to the method in which these frame/drawer units are used to move point-oflay birds into a battery unit. A trailer load of drawer/frame units are delivered to the breeding station, unloaded from the trailer and wheeled to where the birds are housed. The birds are then loaded into the drawers, say 25 per drawer. The drawers are pulled open in turn, loaded with the birds then closed carefully to avoid harming the birds. This operation is repeated until each drawer is full or until all the birds are loaded.

Full transport units are then wheeled back to the lorry, loaded on board, secured and driven to the battery unit. Once there, the transport units are unloaded using the tail lift and wheeled directly into the isles of the battery unit and stationed adjacent to the cages into which the birds are going to be put.

In a typical example where the birds are to be caged in five's and each drawer contains 25 birds. An operator working between two full four drawer transport units therefore has 8 times 25 birds (i.e. 200 birds) at his disposal. This equates to a bank of five cages on each side when the cages are four tiers high i.e. 40 cages. At 5 birds per cage this matches exactly the 200 birds at the operator's disposal.

Starting at the bottom the operator opens a drawer and transfers the birds into the adjacent cages. Working from both left and right hand sides all the birds are transferred from the bottom drawers. Once the lower cages are full the operator moves to the next tier of cages and next row of drawers and so on until all the birds are transferred.

By climbing onto the inspection bars on the cages the operator can work directly adjacent the cages and drawers being filled/emptied. This is illustrated more clearly in Figure 3.

Because the cages are raked backwards towards the top of the bank there is space for the operator to move past the transport units into the next working position. The operator can push the emptied units out of the way to create the necessary 2m working space between the next two full transport units.

One of the great advantages of the drawer units is that the drawers need only be opened enough to lift out the required number of birds at any particular time. As the operator progresses along a row of cages then the respective drawers can be opened further and further such that the operator is always able to transfer the birds directly into a waiting cage. This is not possible with any other system.

Removing old birds is the reverse of the above method. Empty transport units are wheeled into the battery unit and positioned in the isles at strategic points. The operator loads the birds into the drawers, this time fully opening each drawer to start with and closing it gradually as birds are loaded in.

The above-described apparatus and methods offer real prospect of reducing injury and trauma to the livestock and represent also a major advance on previous systems

Claims (9)

Claims:

1. An apparatus for transporting small livestock comprising: i) a plurality of drawer containers for holding livestock, each drawer comprising a base and two pairs of opposing side walls; ii) a frame adapted to receive the drawers in a single column one above each other; characterised in that the frame further incorporates conveying means to enable the frame/drawer combination to be propelled by hand from a transporting lorry to a position directly adjacent the cages in a battery unit.

2. An apparatus as claimed in Claim 1 wherein the conveying means is an integral part of the frame.

3. An apparatus as claimed in any preceding claim wherein the conveying means comprises four wheels, a wheel being positioned at each bottom corner of the frame.

4. An apparatus as claimed in any preceding claim wherein the frame incorporates a series of horizontal bars adapted to support the drawers at their bottom edges on opposing sides, the arrangement being such that when the drawers are received in the frame, part of the base of each drawer extends below the top of the horizontal bars supporting the drawer.

5. An apparatus as claimed in any preceding claim wherein the frame further comprises a flat load bearing top adapted to take the weight of other transporting apparatus in a stacking fashion.

6. An apparatus for transporting small livestock substantially as herein described with reference to and as illustrated in any of the accompanying drawings.

7. A method of transporting small livestock from one building in which the livestock has been raised or is currently housed to another building in which it is to be subsequently housed comprising the steps of: a) providing transport apparatus according to any of Claims 1 to 6 inclusive; b) placing the apparatus adjacent to the area where the small livestock is currently housed and loading livestock into one or more of the drawers; c) conveying the apparatus onto a lorry or other transport vehicle using the built-in conveying means and transporting the apparatus to the building in which the livestock is to be subsequently housed; d) conveying the apparatus containing the livestock on the built-in conveying means from the lorry into the building and placing it adjacent the cages into which the livestock is to be housed, aligning the apparatus with the cages as necessary; e) transferring the livestock into the said cages, sliding the drawers in and out of the frame as necessary; f) conveying the empty apparatus back to the lorry for removal.

8. A method for the removal of small livestock from a specialised unit in which the livestock is housed in cage units arranged in aisles comprising the steps of: a) providing transport apparatus according to any of Claims 1 to 6 inclusive; b) placing the empty apparatus adjacent the cage units to be emptied; c) transferring the livestock from the cages into the drawers of the apparatus, sliding the drawers out of the apparatus as necessary; d) conveying the full apparatus from the isle to a waiting lorry or other transport vehicle on the built-in conveying means; e) transporting the full apparatus to their destination; f) repeating steps b) - e) as necessary.

9. A method of transporting small livestock substantially as herein described.